Akatsuki Babysitters
by writer168
Summary: Nagato took advantage of his daughter's unusual circumstance and used it to help his organization become more human. "Do not argue this with me, Konan. Sakura will fix them whether they know so or not."
1. Prolouge

Their world was void of color and light. They learned to love the rain that poured over them everyday and embraced the frigid air that came with it. In result to that, they became cold. Frozen. Unfeeling. Blind to what their hearts would whisper. Fortunately enough for them, their dying humanity was forseen by wise eyes.

The owner of those eyes had expected this and had an answer to this very occurance- his daughter. She was a naive little thing with bright eyes and a thousand watt smile that any four year old could muster.

"Nagato... what are you thinking...?" Konan questioned. Her arms tightened around the girl she was carrying. The little girl shifted slightly before falling back to sleep.

"I will introduce her to the Akatsuki."

"What?! Nagato, you know her condition-!"

"I know it well, so we should take advantage of this situation. Do not argue this with me, Konan. Sakura will fix them whether they know so or not."


	2. Deidara

He didn't know what to do with this... kid. She was far too young to possibly know any jutsu and she wasn't old enough to understand anything about his art. But he was the only one available at the base and he was ordered to take care of her. Deidara stood up from his spot on his bed and dug around through his closet until he pulled out a clear plastic bag filled with light gray clay and brought it to what he dubbed the 'living room' of the base. A large room filled with a coffee table, a couple of old couches, and a TV.

When he walked in, he spotted Sakura lyng on the floor with her head propped up in her hand and a blank piece of paper on the ground in front of her. Overcome with curiosity, he crouched down beside her.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"... Thinkin'."

"Thinking about what, hm?"

"What to draw." she answered. "What do you like to draw, Deidara-san?"

Deidara blinked. In all the years he had been in Akatsuki, no one had ever asked him that before. It took him a while to pick out his thoughts.

"People, un. Sometimes nature."

Her mouth made an 'o' shape in understanding before her attention turned to the bag in his hands. She pushed herself off of the ground and sat cross-legged on the dull wood.

"What's that, Deidara-san?" she questioned curiously. He smirked lightly and took out part of the soil-smelling substance and placed it into Sakura's small hands.

"Clay, un. You can play withi t and mold it into whatever you want. You have the freedom to change it to whatever you please, hm. It's art. Do whatever you want with it." he said. Sakura stared down at the cool argil before smiling and molding the clay to her will.

Deidara eventually got bored of watching her and pulled out a piece of clay for himself. Expert hands took ten minutes to create a monarch butterfly that he sent fluttering about the room. For some reason, seing the butterfly being so... free... had him groing angry with each passing second.

He blew it up, sending dust across the room.

Sakura didn't look up at the explosion, but to Deidara instead.

"The butterfly was free, Deidara-san. Why did you make it go away? Did it make you sad?"

He couldn't force himself to answer the question. Sakura noticed this, set her clay back into the bag, and went back over to her sheet of paper. Deidara watched as she drew something with her crayons with utmost concentration. When she finished, she hopped onto her feet and trotted over to the blonde with a wide smile.

"Here, Deidara-san!" she exclaimed, handing him the paper, "Just for you!"

He took the paper reluctantly and gazed at the picture. There was a stick figure with scribbles of yellow on the figure's head, uneven blue circles inside the circle which he assumed were eyes, and al ine curved into what resembled a smile. Odd orange shapes sprouted from it's back.

"What's this?" he asked quietly.

"It's you, silly! You have pretty butterfly wings so you can be free too!"

Something ached in his chest as he continued to stare down at the picture. He noticed something pink on his hands in the drawing and pointed to it.

"What's that?"

"The pink thingies on your hands!"

Pink thingies...?

Deidara cracked a smile.


	3. Tobi

A child. In Akatsuki.

Who would think of such a _ludicrous_ idea?

Sakura was watching TV in the living room while Tobi kept an eye on her from the kitchen. His eyes narrowed from behind his mask. She might be the leader's daughter, but he was still surpised that she had been able to survive for this long. Granted, she had yet to meet the more bloodthirsty members of the organization. He straightened himself and walked over to sit beside Sakura on the couch. She looked over at him and smiled.

"Hi, Tobi-san."

"Sakura."

She cocked her head to the side and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Your voice." she said, "It's really deep. Why's it like that?"

They sat silently for a while, the noise of the current TV program being the only sound in the house. Her patience was exemplary as she stared into his one eye hole. Suddenly, she smiled again.

"It's okay, you don't haf'ta tell me. Papa said that everyone has big, big secrets that they don't want to tell no one."

She turned her head back to the TV and Tobi kept his mouth shut for another five minutes.

"Anyone." he corrected.

"Eh?"

"Big secrets that they don't want to tell _anyone_."

Sakura grinned. She hopped off the couch, turned of the TV, then took hold of Tobi's hand. He flinched as she tugged at it. He allowed himself to be pulled off his seat and out of the house. They walked to the nearest hillside and sat down on the soft green grass.

"Why are we here?" asked Tobi a few minutes after looking up at the sunset.

"'Cause it's really pretty like this. Don't you think it's pretty Tobi-san?"

"...Hm."

As he stared up at the sky, he sighed and slipped off his mask. Tobi set the mask on the ground beside him and stared at the little girl. Her eyes twinkled with awe.

"Wow~! Tobi-san, Tobi-san, you're eyes are so red!" she exclaimed, "It's like- It's like the same red that come out of people's owies!"

He didn't know if that was something a four year old should say, but he was amused nonetheless.

"Keep this a secret, would you? Don't tell anyone- not even your Papa. Especially your Papa. Do you understand, Sakura?"

She nodded, still staring into his eyes. His mouth quirked upwards and he slid his mask back over his face. He stood up and extended a hand to help Sakura to her feet. The sky had darkened to it's beautiful navy and the stars shone magnificently above them.

"What do you want to do know, Sakura?" he questioned. She puffed out her cheeks and stared down at her feet as she walked hand in hand with the older man. An idea suddenly the struck as she looked up at Tobi with a toothy grin.

"Deidara-san has clay in his room and he likes to make 'em go boom! Let's go in 'is room and make his clay go boom!"


	4. Kakuzu

2,324... 2,325... 2,326...

Sakura sat down at the kitchen table, twidling with her thumbs silently. Directly across the table was Kakuzu without his hood and mask, counting the money from his most recent bounty. Money had to be deducted from the Akatsuki's finances because of two occurrences. One, Deidara's room had to repaired due to numerous unexpected explosions. Two, the wall in the living area had to be restored because Tobi was sent right through for causing the earlier incident.

"K-Kakuzu-san?"

2,327... 2,328... 2,329...

"What?"

"Dei... Deidara-san said that you have a temper. Is that true?" she questioned meekly.

His hand paused for a split second before continuing to flip through the money.

"Yes."

2,330... 2,331... 2, 332...

Sakura looked back down at her hands. She had been at the base for about two weeks now and had stuck to Tobi and Deidara the entire time. In those two weeks, she had seen Kakuzu either counting money, scribbling down things in his small notebook, or getting into extremely violent arguments with the guy with the silver hair.

"Papa says I have a temper too." she murmured. Kakuzu took his attention of the money and raised an eyebrow. "He told me that I got really mad one time and I broke his desk in half."

That was hard to believe considering that the leader's desk was made of thick wood.

"A temper, you say..." Kakuzu mused quietly. Now slightly interested, he set down his money and raised his eyes to put the entirety of his attention on her. Sakura ducked her head down ever further if it were possible.

"Raise your head. I don't like talking down to people when they're sitting right across from me."

Her head snapped up and her cheeks flushed pink.

"S-Sorry, Kakuzu-san." she said. Her head might be up, but her eyes were glued to the table, avoiding his gaze. Kakuzu sighed internally. It wasn't his intention to intimidate her to this extent. She was only a child, after all. He might be a grown man without many morals, but scaring little kids wasn't on his to-do list.

He sighed outwardly.

"Sakura, when was the last time you were taken out in the village?" he asked. She turned her eyes to the ceiling for a few moments before looking at him with shy, green eyes.

"I... I don't think I've gone. Mama and Papa wan' me to stay here cuz' it's safe." Sakura mumbled. Kakuzu slid out of his seat.

"Let's go, then. I have errands to run and I can't leave you alone."

A look of pure excitement flashed across her face as she hopped out of her seat and ran towards her room.

"Lemme get my jacket firs', Kakuzu-san!" she called as she bolted down the hallway. Kakuzu watched her go with a quirked brow.

Needless to say, Sakura was absolutely ecstatic to be out in the cold, bundled up in her red jacket and lime green scarf. She looked around curiously as she took in all the sights and sounds of the hustle and bustle of civilian life. But no matter how curious she was, she stuck to Kakuzu's side. He was grateful that she didn't give him any reason for him to keep a constant eye out. She was also rather well behaved for her age, letting him do what he had to do without a fuss. She was good company, actually. Compared to Hidan at least.

He felt a tug on his cloak.

"Kakuzu-san, what's that?"

Sakura was pointing to a building where you could see books upon books stacked on shelves on the inside.

"That's a library." he answered, interest piqued, "It's a place where you can read all sorts of books... would you stay here while I run the last of my errands? I'll be back in an hour or so."

She smiled up at him and nodded enthusiastically before trotting inside.

He had taken much longer than he had anticipated. Kakuzu's last few errands had taken him at least three hours to complete. Night had already crested over the horizon and left only a sliver of pink in the far off sky. Kakuzu walked back to the library and stepped inside.

The place was rather barren with the librarian no where in sight. A couple of tables were scattered amongst the room. They were also unoccupied, savef or the one at the far corner. There was a small stack of books on the wooden surface with a shock of pink beside it. Sakura was napping quietly with her head buried in her arms. Kakuzu ran a hand over his masked face and picked her up.

"Mmm... Kakuzu-san?" she muttered groggily.

"Just sleep. I'll take you home."

She hummed in reply while wrapping her hands around his neck and burying her face in the junction of his shoulder. Kakuzu stiffened at her cuddling and opened his mouth to reprimand her. After some quick consideration, he closed his mouth and let out a near silent sigh.

Perhaps, this one time, he could let it slide.


	5. Kisame and Itachi

Itachi was sitting by the window of the Akatsuki House in Frost Country with a thick book of poetry in one hand and a cup of hot chocolate in the other. His sharingan was turned off and thin framed glasses sat comfortably on his nose. Sakura was out playing in the snow with Deidara and Tobi, lauging cheerily. Mostly at the two idiots.

She really loved hanging around them as they were surprisingly well-versed in dealing with young kids. Itachi... Itachi wasn't sure how to handle someone as young as her. There was a point in his life when he was an older brother. Now, the title was too good for him. He turned his head to look out the window to see that Deidara and Sakura had built Tobi into a snowman.

As Deidara broke down laughing, Sakura caught Itachi's gaze and waved at him amiably. He returned the gesture with a slight incline of his head. Sakura beamed brightly before turning back around to the Tobi-snowman. They played around for another long while before Konan urged them all inside.

"But Mama, why can't we play anymore?" Sakura pouted. Konan smoothed down the girl's hair and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"I don't want you getting sick, sweetheart." she replied, straight-faced as ever, "Go take a shower and put on your PJ's."

Sakura nodded happily and trotted down the hallway. When she disappeared into her room, Konan turned to Deidara and Tobi.

"You two have been slated for a mission with Sasori-san and Zetsu-san. Go see Leader-sama."

They nodded at her and walked down the other end of the hallway.

Itachi sat on the couch in the living area, reading a book as he always would. His partner, Kisame, was sprawled across the loveseat with Sakura sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of him. She was a glob of Deidara's non-reactive clay in her hands and tried to make a flower. The silence between the three of them was comfortable, and they had no problem with continuing on like this for hours. That is, until, Sakura raised her head to look at Itachi.

"Itachi-san, where to babies come from?"

Kisame, the bastard, didn't even _try _to hide his peals of laughter. Itachi's eye twitched a few times before he took of his glasses.

"What brought this on, Sakura?" he questioned.

"I dunno. I heard from Deidara-san that babies grow inside mamas' tummies and that the papa puts it there. How does the papa do that?"

Itachi was prepared to give the little girl a full blown speech about the human anatomy, but the cheeky, taunting grin Kisame gave him made him think otherwise. He sighed.

"Sometimes when two people are in a relationship, they decide to have a child. When that happens, the father gives the mother... seeds... and the baby grows in the mother's stomach." he explained. Sakura nodded in understanding and continued to mess around with her clay. Itachi was relieved when she accepted his answer so dutifully. Kisame's second round of laughter certainly wasn't appreciated, but at least she didn't as-

"Can two guys get a baby?"

...

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then why dun' you and Kisame-san get a baby? Don't you have a re-la-tion-ship?" she asked curiously, "So does that mean you put your seed in Kisame-san or is it the other way around?"

Itachi and Kisame shared equally horrified glances.

"We don't have a relationship like that, kiddo." Kisame clarified quickly, throwing down an embarrassed smile, "What Itachi-san means it that when two people like like each other, they you know, get down to business."

"So you two don't like like eachother?"

"NO."

A few days later, Sakura asked the same question to Deidara about him and Tobi.

Deidara choked on his water.


	6. Hidan

Hidan had been banned from cussing when he was around Sakura. There were no shits, dicks, or fucks. One wrong word around 'Akatsuki's Little Girl' and he'd be kicked all the way to Suna. But it wasn't like he was around the kid much anyways. The ones at the base tried to keep her away from him as much as possible (for obvious reasons), and he was completly okay with that.

That is, until, he became the only one available.

So here he was now, practicing his taijutsu with Sakura watching him on the sidelines. His scythe was sitting in her lap, safe and sound. Hidan didn't have to worry about her getting hurt. From what he heard, she was a good kid and really, her shours of amazement at his training was giving his ego a field day.

"You're so cool, Hidan-san!"

"Hell yeah I am!"

Hell wasn't considered a swear word, right? Sakura giggled and gave him a bright smile. He took a break after about an hour and took a seat beside the four year old. She handed him a bottle of water.

"Thanks, brat."

The two sat in silence for a while, staring up at the clouds. Sakura glanced to the side, catching a glimpse at the thoughtful look that glazed over Hidan's face. It was weird to see him like this. Usually, she'd see him annoyed, angry, smug, or bored. Now that she thought about it, there really wasn't a time where she saw him truly smile.

"Hidan-san."

"Mm?"

"What makes you happy?"

He tore his gaze away from the sky and met a pair of purely interested eyes. What an odd little girl.

"What makes me happy..." he repeated slowly. He thought about it for a little while. "... Being a Jashinist would have to take that fuc- erm, spot. It's been with me the longest, and it's the only thing I have, seriously."

Hidan said it like it didn't mean anything, but his eyes were downcast, avoiding Sakura's stare. After a few moments, she gingerly set down his scythe and hopped onto his lap. She smiled at his surprised expression.

"Tell me a story, Hidan-san! I wanna know more 'bout Jashin! He sounds really, really cool!" she gushed. Hidan arched an eyebrow and grinned, soft chuckles spilling from his lips.

"You're real weird, you know that? Let's go inside first, I'll start telling you stories while I whip up some f- lunch."

It was about three days later when the Akatsuki started arriving back at the house. Deidara, Sasori, Itachi, and Kisame returned at night to a strangely quiet house. Hidan wasn't sprawled across the couch being bored like they expected him to be an Sakura wasn't sneaking around to avoid bed time like she would usually tend to do. Interested (and slightly worried), the four of them exchanged and silent made their way down one of the dimmed hallways to Sakura's room.

Her door was cracked open, the soft glow of her nightlight pouring through the darkness. As they inched closer, they began to hear the deep, alluring lull of... Hidan's voice?! Deidara and Kisame peeked in first and were dumbfounded at what they say.

Hidan was cross-legged on Sakura's bed, leaning back against the wall and holding a book in his hands. Sakura was curled up contently in his lap, her hands fisted in his shirt, her head on his chest and her eyes half-lidded and still drooping.

"An' den wha' happen?" she mumbled. Hidan turned the page and pushed up the glasses that sat on the bridge of his nose.

"After saving the princess from the evil witch, the prince brought her back to his castle and had a beautiful wedding full of white roses, sunflowers, and irises; just like the prince promised. And then they lived happily ever after. The End."

Sakura was blissfully asleep. Hidan closed the book and set it on the nightstand before carefully taking Sakura off his lap and tucking her in bed. When he walked out of the room and closed the door, he was met with four amused stares. Deidara rushed up to him first, looking up at the older man with the best puppy dog eyes he could muster.

"Read me a story next, un?"

Hidan flushed red in embarrassment and whacked him in the head.

"Shut it, blondie!" he scream-whispered, earing a raised eyebrow from Sasori, "Be creepy somewhere else, would ya?!"

He turned on his heel and walked to his room. After a few seconds, Kisame spoke.

"I thought you were the only one who wore glasses, Itachi-san."

"And I thought Hidan would've lashed out at the comment." Itachi said.

"Forget about the comment. I wasn't aware that Hidan knew what whispering was." Sasori dryly remarked.

"Did any of you catch that Hidan didn't cuss, un? Not even once?!"

It took an entire week for Hidan to get back to normal.


	7. Sasori

He was thankful that she knew how to shut up.

Sasori was in his workshop, tinkering with a couple of puppet parts. He was completely engrossed in his work, not minding the little girl who was perusing through his seemingly endless collection. Sakura thought that these puppets were kind of creepy. They looked so... real.. but there was no way that they were. Sakura was sure of that. As she continued browsing through all the different piece of Sasori's art, she stumbled upon a painting in the far corner of the room.

It was dark, as this part of the workshop was mainly obscured by the red cloth Sasori would use to dress his puppets. There was a large canvas painted with careful strokes of a deep, subtle blue. It was dotted with yellowish-white, presumably the stars. In the midst of all the calm beauty, there was a silhouette of a small boy on the corner of the canvas, staring upwards. Underneath the painting was an engraved gold plate.

_Ego solus._

Ego solus?

Sakura's brow furrowed in confusion as she walked back to Sasori's desk and tugged lightly on his shirt.

"What?" he asked, not looking up from his work.

"What does... Ego Solus... mean?"

He paused, carefully indifferent eyes locked in front of him. It was quiet for a long while, so much so that Sakura believed he wouldn't give her an answer. Just whens he was about to step away and go back to look at more of the puppets, he looked to the side.

"I, Alone."

"Sasori-san...?"

"Ego Solus means I, Alone."

Even when his expression was as blank as ever, Sakura noticed something amiss. She took hold of his unfeeling hand and gazed up at him worriedly.

"Why are you alone, Sasori-san? You talk to Deidara-san everyday. Sometimes Itachi-san and Kakuzu-san. If you talk to lotsa people, why're you still lonely?" she asked. That was an interesting question. Maybe it was the fact that his parents died when he was young and he didn't find out until a year later. Maybe it was a fact that his grandmother had lied to him about his parents and he spent that entire time believing her. Maybe it was the fact that he had turned the only person that considered him a friend into his first human puppet.

But he'd never tell her any of that.

Sasori set down his tools and spun his chair to face her. He propped up his head with his hand and gazed down at her coolly, all traces of his previous emotion washed aside.

"Having people around you means nothing. Take a handful of random strangers and put them in a room, yourself included. Even when there are people, you know none of them. You are an isolated body surrounded by numerous other isolated bodies." he said. Sakura's eyebrows furrowed as she stood there and pondered his explanation.

"Well... what's wrong with making friends with them? That way you don't haf'ta be alone."

"And how do you propose you do such a thing? These people may as well be barbarians with no morals."

"But even barbarians have hearts, Sasori-san."

He was definitely wasn't expecting that answer. Sakura stepped closer to him and tapped the canister inserted in his chest.

"See that, Sasori-san?" she chirped, "Even though you're a puppet, you still gotta heart too!"

He stared down blankly at her grinning face before scoffing and turning his seat back around to continue working on his project. She pulled over a stool from the corner of the room and sat right beside him. She began telling him about her day- the goods and the bads and what she wanted to do later on.

... And he listened.


	8. Zetsu

He took her to the greenhouse because she wanted to look at the roses, and he had no complaints. He had to tend to the rest of the flowers there anyways. Sakura marveled at all the types of flowers she saw and gaped at all the beautiful colors. She spent minutes just gazing at each individual flower, admiring its beauty before moving onto the next. Zetsu was thoroughly intrigued, to say the least.

It was common knowledge that he was the type of person who liked to observe unique people. Why unique people? Because they were just so hard to come across these days. The people he come across on a daily basis were all the same deep down inside: jaded and striving to survive. Those types of people were only interesting at first, but they'd bore him a few seconds later. But there was something so different about children compared to everyone else. Especially in Sakura's case.

Most children might be interested in a surplus of flowers for a short amount of time, but about half an hour had passed and Sakura was still staring intently at a cluster freesias like she was trying to figure out all their secrets. He just didn't understand.

"What are you so curious about?" he asked, "_**Are flowers really that interesting?**_"

"Of course they're interesting, Zetsu-san. First they start out as a little tiny seed. With a bit o'water, lotsa sunshine, and some time, they become something pretty." she answered without looking up from her musings.

"_**Yet they die even quicker.**_"

"Well, that just means you have to appreciate them even more, ne?"

Zetsu blinked. After a few more minutes of further insepection, Sakura looked away from the freesias and walked up to him.

"Zetsu-san, it's okay to be scared, right?" she asked quietly. All the shine from her eyes had faded in that moment, causing the older man to look down at her in surprise.

"... _**That depends.**_ What are you afraid of?"

Sakura looked down at her feet and clasped her hands behind her back. She was reluctant about what she was about to say- that much was clear. When she looked back up at Zetsu for the second time, her eyes were brimming with unshed tears. In all her time here, he had never seen her at a loss for so much hope.

"Zetsu-san, if you were going to die soon, would you be scared too?"

...

...Eh...?

She had clung onto his waist and buried her head in his abdomen. He patted her head akwardly, making her cling onto him tighter.

"Death is... _**not something**_ I would be afraid of._** I've seen it too many times**_ for me to worry about. Besides, everything has its end eventually. You _**can't stop**_it even if you tried."

"That's..."

Zetsu raised an eyebrow at her.

"... That's what Papa said to Mama after I went to the doctor's yesterday..."

"And why were you at the doctors?"

She shut her mouth again and was silent for the next few seconds. She answered with a small, broken whisper that made Zetsu's eyes grow wide- then even wider with the follow up.

"Zetsu-san... promise me you won't tell anyone... please."

With a painfully blank face, he answered.

"_**I**_ promise."


	9. Midnight

They were on the rooftop of the Akatsuki House, gazing up at the expanse of murky navy and its spotted sheen. Itachi never really took the time to stare up at the sky anymore. In fact, the thought had never even crossed his mind. But when Sakura took hold of his hand and made him go up to the roof with her just for the purpose of looking at stars in the middle of the night, he had no good excuse to refuse.

So here he was, sitting outside at midnight with his eyes turned to the sky.

"Uwa... isn't this so pretty? There are so many stars!" Sakura exclaimed, pointing upwards, "Don't you think it's pretty, Itachi-san?"

He glanced her way.

"Aa."

She grinned.

"Ne, ne, you know what else? Mama told me a story about the stars. She said that once someone passed away, their souls would go up, up,up until they become bright enough to have the honor of being seen at night!" she exclaimed in awe, "I don't know anyone who became a star. Do you know anyone up there, Itachi-san?"

_"Itachi-chan! Come down here, I made onigiri! Bring Sasuke-chan down too, would you?"_

_"You are the future of the clan. I expect nothing but great things from you, Itachi."_

_"Yo, 'Tachi! Wanna spar with me? I improved my shunshin!_

"I know... quite a few." he replied quietly.

"Really? I bet they're really happy up there, then. Maybe they might be a little sad because they can't be with you anymore, but that doesn't mean they're gone. Mama always tells me that the brighter the star, the more they're smiling. And that's a good thing 'cause all the stars are really bright! That mean that the ba-gillions of stars have ba-gillions of smiles!"

Sakura had gotten up to her feet and had her arms spread out, as if trying to embrace every star that she could.

"... Why would the stars smile down at me?" Itachi whispered. His voice was so soft that Sakura almost didn't hear him. "What if it was my fault that some of the stars are up there in the first place? I don't deserve their smiles."

The girl crouched in front of him, head tilted to the side and eyebrows furrowed.

"Did you love them, Itachi-san?"

"Pardon?"

"Did you love them?" she repeated, "Did you love the stars you put in the sky?"

Itachi stared at her, straight-faced, searching her genuine irises for some sort of hidden motive. What could he say? They were his_ family_.

"I did."

Suddenly, Sakura's hands were on his cheeks. She beamed.

"If you loved them, they loved you too, silly! If someone loves you, they'll always love you. No matter how bad you've done somefin', they'll always forgive you. I know it's true 'cause once ate a buncha cookies when Mama told me not to. She got mad at me and I got into big trouble. I thought Mama hated me when I did that, but at the end of the day, she still read me a story and tucked me into bed. See, Itachi-san? I did something bad and Mama still loved me!"

_"Father, Mother, I..."_

_"I know, Itachi."_

_"Itachi, just promise me this. Take care of Sasuke. And do not fear, this is the path you have chosen. Compared to you, our pain will be over in an instant. Even if our philosophies differ, I am proud to have called you my son."_

Sakura grew alarmed when a couple of tears started streaming down Itachi's face. He gently held onto her wrists and bowed his head.

"You... truly are a kind child..."


	10. Dawn

"You know, Sakura-chan, hm, I know you like watching sunrises with people, but why'd you bring wooden scrooge over there? I can barely get him out of bed in the morning for missions, un."

Sasori rolled his eyes and kept his eyes on the dark, distant horizon. Sakura hugged Sasori's arm.

"'Cause Sasori-san promised! Right, Sasori-san?" she questioned giddily. She looked at him with her wide, doe-like eyes while awaiting his answer. He stared back at her for a few seconds before turning his head to the side disdainfully.

"Tch."

Deidara and Sakura shared a grin. The sky was still a steady shade of dark blue, the sun having yet to flash the first of its rays. Between the three of them, there was a comfortable silence as they waited for dawn to come. Deidara was molding a small piece of clay with his fingers, and Sasori was fixing one of the weapons on his arm. Sakura, though, was staring straight up at the sky. The stars... The stars...

Would she really become one of those stars?

"Deidara-san, Sasori-san..."

They looked at her.

"Yeah, hm?"

"Have you ever regretted loving someone?" she asked. Deidara looked at Sakura with a raised brow.

"That's kind of an odd question, un. Pretty sudden too." he said as he scratched his cheek, "Where'd you get that from, hm?"

"Ano... Hidan-san read me a story a few nights ago. It was about this guy who loved this one girl a lot and was gonna marry her. He ever got her this really pretty ring! But then she got sick the day before the wedding and died a few days later. The guy cried and cried and kept saying 'I shouldn't have loved her... I shouldn't have loved her...' I thought it was weird that he was sying that after she died. I asked Hidan-san why the guy would do something like that, but Hidan-san said something like that never happened to him so he didn't know. Do you know?"

Deidara stayed silent for a little while, thinking about any sort of experience he had that would answer her question. Eventually, he shrugged and sighed.

"Sorry, Sakura. I don't know about it either, hm. What about you, Danna?"

Sasori was silent, his head titled towards the world above. He made no sign of having heard them.

"... Danna?"

The sun was now reaching upwards in the distance, but the blanket of the night still covered most of what they could see. Sasori let out a long, drawn out breath and met Sakura's curious stare.

"The man in the story was a fool. If he had truly loved her, he would have never said those things."

"Really~? But in the story he loved her so much! Didn't he just say that because he was sad?"

"He might have been sad, but that's no excuse. He should have never said that about her. He should be happy that he had spent all of his time with her even when he had watched her die from her sickness. He might have felt pathetically useless at the time- but that doesn't give him the right to say that he shouldn't have loved her." he hissed. Deidara was stunned to silence. He had never seen Sasori look so... _emotional_. His hand was covering his eyes and his teeth were clenched. If anything, he looked like he was about to cry.

But puppets didn't cry.

"... He never regretted loving her. Not even for a second, even though he had said all those things. Even though she never got to wear the wedding dress with the swirl of cherry blossoms at the bottom. Even though she never got to wear the ring he made for her."

The sun was now over the horizon, shining brilliantl with its orange light. Sakura held onto Sasori's wooden hand.

"What was her name, Sasori-san?"

He glanced down at her.

"... Kaede."

A little while later, Sakura was curled against Deidara's chest with her face buried in the base of his neck. Both he and Sasori were still on the rooftop, enjoying (for once) a simple conversation.

"So that's how it was, un... You became a puppet after what happened to Kaede-san." Deidara mused, "I guess I can understand why you've never talked about it, hm. Should we tell Hidan to stop reading books like that to Sakura? I mean, some of them seem kind of inappropriate, hm."

"She'll learn about all of that eventually, so why wait? She has the rest of her life to understand about these things. One day, when she's older, she'll look back on this day and be glad that she learned this." Sasori replied smoothly.

"Eh, I can't wait until Sakura's all grown up, un. Makes me feel old just thinkin' about it."

Sasori rolled his eyes.

"You sound like an old man already brat- talking about Sakura like you're her older brother."

"Psh- I'm close enough to one!"

Sakura, who was still and feigning sleep, bit her lip to keep from crying.


	11. Morning

"So Sakura, what do you want for breakfast?" Tobi asked as the two walked into the kitchen. She eyed him suspiciously as she took a seat at the island counter.

"You... cook, Tobi-san?" she asked slowly. He pulled on a yellow apron and turned towards her.

"Of course I can cook. I've just never done it because no one ever asked. So, what do you want to eat? Eggs? Toast? Miso soup?"

Sakura stared at him levelly.

"Ne, are you sure it's safe for me to eat? I don't want to be _accidentally poisoned_, you know." she said. Tobi's eye twitched from behind his mask as he walked over and flicked her forehead.

"How rude. Has Hidan been rubbing off on you?"

"Maybe~" she grinned. Tobi's lips pulled upwards in a short smile before he pinched her cheeks and turned to enter the kitchen. Sakura watched him work with a full interest and was surprised that he actually looked like he knew what he was doing. Apparently she had voiced that out loud and he threw her an irked glare through his one eye hole. She smiled in return.

As Tobi whisked the eggs for the *tamagoyaki, he looked up at the little girl to see her carefully picking apart the broken eggshells.

"Sakura."

"Hm?"

"What are your plans for the future?"

She raised her head, eyebrows knitted with the bits of eggshells between her fingers.

"... Plans... for the future...?" she repeated questioningly, "What are you talking about, Tobi-san?"

"I take it that in a few years you'll be training to become a shinobi, correct? I'm sure your father expects at least that much from you. What type of shinobi do you plan on becoming?" he questioned. Sakura dropped her gaze back to her hands. She had never really thought about it before. Actually, she never really thought about it because she didn't think she had the need to.

"I don't know. If I become a shinobi, I would wanna be a medic so I can heal all my friends and teammates." she replied. He paused in slicing a block of tofu to give her a strange look.

"... If?"

"If."

Tobi refrained from commenting and continued to make Sakura's breakfast. Not much later, a plate of tamagoyaki, a bowl of rice, and a bowl of miso soup was laid out in front of her. She picked up her chopsticks with uncertainty.

"Are you sure this is safe to eat?"

"_Just eat it._"

Sakura broke apart the chopsticks with a pout.

"Itadakimasu."

...

...

...

"Uwa! It's surprisingly good!" she exclaimed in horror. Tobi's eye twitched a second time. Just what was that supposed to mean? Cheeks full of food and a wide smile creasing her face, she popped another piece of tofu into her mouth.

"Than' shu for sha' food, Tobi-shan!"

Kisame walked into the kitchen with an impressive bedhead and greeted the two with a yawn.

"Mornin'. Whatya' eating?"

"Tobi-san made me breakfast!" Sakura chirped. Kisame raised an eyebrow at the masked man dressed in the ridiculously house-wife looking outfit.

"You cook?"

"Of course I can, Kisame-senpai~! I can make a lot of things!" Tobi exclaimed, reverting to his child-like facade.

"Hah? What do you mean 'of course I can'? You've never once cooked when you came to the Akatsuki! If we knew you could cook we wouldn't have to eat damn take out everday!"

Sakura continued to happily munch through her breakfast despite the growing chaos around her.

* * *

After breakfast, Tobi slipped out of the kitchen and strode purposely through the balls until he came across Pein's office. He walked in without knocking and stood in front of the desk with his arms crossed over his chest. Pein looked up.

"Can I help you?"

"Just recently, I had spoken to Sakura about her possible study of the shinobi arts. She told me that if she became one, she'd become a medic. If."

Pein exhaled through his nose and set down his pen.

"That's right. If." he replied.

"I like to keep track of future assets to this organization, big or small. You know that." he said, "Tell me, Pein, why both you and Sakura dare say, 'if'."

Pein opened a drawer at his desk and pulled out a beige folder with the name 'Haruno Sakura' written in thick black letters on the tab. He handed it over to Tobi who scanned the contents with a critical eye. After a minute or two, he looked up, a hardened red eye gleaming through his mask.

"If." Pein said.

**_*tamagoyaki: rolled omelette_**


	12. Midday

"Rocky road ice cream?"

"Check!"

"Cream soda?"

"Check!"

"The complete third season of _Scorned_?"

"Check! Yosh, Kisame-san! Now we're ready to watch for the rest of the day!" Sakura exclaimed. Both her and Kisame plopped onto the couch, each with their own tub of ice cream, and got comfortable as the opening credits began. Yes. They were going to binge watch the most angsty, tear-jerking drama they could get their hands on. Each of them had a pint of ice cream in their laps and were shoveling the sugary dessert in their mouths almost immediately.

It was three minutes into the fourth episode when Kisame had gotten up to get his fifth pint of ice cream when he saw a light purple blotch on Sakura's shoulder.

"Eh, what's that? You get hurt again?"

She chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head.

"I was running and I didn't look where I was going and hit a wall." she said, "Just being clumsy as usual."

He tousled her hair without a second thought.

"You really gotta be more careful, but damn. You must've hit your shoulder hard to get a bruise like that." he mused. Sakura laughed it off like it was nothing and they continued watching the drama. At the end credits of the seventh episode, eleven empty pints of ice cream and six empty bottles of cream soda were on the coffee table, and faces of heavy despair were plastered on Kisame's and Sakura's faces.

"We ate too much ice cream." she muttered.

"And that didn't help the fact that the main character of this series is an absolute dumbass." he added on disappointedly. They both shared a glance before bursting out into a fit of chuckles. With their stomachs full of junk food, they paused the show and went into the kitchen to get _even more food. _They came back to the couch with a bowl of popcorn and a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips.

"What in HELL is she doing?!" Kisame exclaimed with a mouth full of food as he pointed at the TV angrily, "GIRL, YOU'LL GET KILLED IF YOU WALK IN THAT GODDAMN HOUSE ALONE! HE'S IN THERE! YOU KNOW HE'S IN THERE!"

"TURN AROUND! TURN AROUND, HE'S BEHIND YOU! WHY IS IT IN SLOW MOTION?! WHY?!" Sakura shouted.

Near the end of the season finale, Kakuzu and Itachi walked into the living room. They paused, though, when they saw the overturned coffee table and the furious forms of both Sakura and Kisame.

"YA' DIED LIKE A STUPID BASTARD! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!" Kisame roared, "YA' MADE US SIT THROUGH ALL THIRTEEN EPISODES JUST SO YOU COULD DIE FROM _FALLIN' OFF A CLIFF_?! WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT?!"

"NOT ONLY THAT, BUT YOU KISSED YOUR BROTHER INSTEAD OF YOUR BEST FRIEND! I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE VAMPIRES, YOUR BEST FRIEND LOVED YOU AND YOUR BROTHER WAS A PUREBLOOD WHO LIED TO YOU THIS ENTIRE TIME!" screamed Sakura. Itachi observed the two with a raised eyebrow, and Kakuzu shook his head before turning around and leaving.

He had to remember to ban anyone from watching dramas like these in the house.


	13. Afternoon

Honestly, he had to admit that this was more fun than he had originally thought. But of course, he would never say that out loud. Sakura was trotting ahead of him, a bright smile on her face as she curiously looked around the shopping district. Konan had told him that he had to go out with Sakura to get some new clothes.

He was adverse to the idea with the sole reason of wasting money. But he couldn't bring himself to be too upset about it. The only real thing that discomfited him about this entire ordeal was that he now was standing awkwardly in the middle of a store filled with nothing but mom, grandmas, and young kids. All the eyes focused on him didn't help either.

"Kakuzu-san, what should I get? A shirt and pants or a dress?" Sakura asked. He quickly looked around the store and only saw dresses of the cute, puffy variety.

"... Shirt and pants. Wearing a dress is inefficient if you were caught in an emergency."

"Okay!"

She bounded off somewhere in the store, leaving Kakuzu to sit uncomfortably in one of the plush chairs. He was about to pull out his bingo book and calculate the money he could make over the next few weeks when an elderly woman sat down beside him.

"Your little darling is so adorable!" she cooed, "How old is she?"

"Four, but she's not-"

"Four! Oh, how precious! I remember when my little boy was four years old!" she interrupted as she clasped her hands together. Kakuzu twitched and decided to keep his mouth shut. The woman kept on talking.

"-and your little girl is the the damn cutest! I bumped into her about ten minutes ago and she apologized immediately and it wasn't even her fault. I have never met such a polite and respectable four year old before. Which makes me wonder, does she ever throw temper tantrums?"

Kakuzu looked at her.

"...What?"

"Does your little girl ever throw temper tantrums?"

"No. I don't believe she ever once had done so." he replied. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought about it. He supposed that it was strange. Kids her age usually threw fits, didn't they? The elderly woman sighed, a soft smile on her face.

"Is that so? What a sweet little thing. My grandson never threw a tantrum when he was younger either, but I know that it was my fault. He was oddly considerate for his age, but later on I found out that it was because he was sad." she said. Kakuzu cast her a strange look as Sakura came back with a couple of shorts and pants and two red shirts.

"Here, I'm finished!" she chirped. Kakuzu stood up and took the clothes from her. He inclined his head to the stranger who responded with a smile and a wave. At the cash register, Sakura tugged on Kakuzu's pant leg.

"Who was that nice obaa-san?"

He shrugged.

"Who knows."

The elderly woman stood up, stretched her old limbs, and made her way out of the clothing store. Almost immediately, a Suna shinobi appeared by her side.

"Chiyo-baasama! We've been looking for you, where have you been?!"

At a secondhand thought, Kakuzu made a detour to a small bakery. Sakura was absolutely delighted when he had bought her a red velvet cupcake, one that she readily munched on.

"Thank you, Kakuzu-san!" she exclaimed with a full mouth. After they began their long trek home, a thought was racketing Kakuzu's brain. The question the old woman had asked him earlier.

"Sakura."

"Hai, Kakuzu-san?"

"Why is it that you've never thrown a tantrum before? It was implied to me recently that kids your age do this quite often."

She looked up at the afternoon sky and smiled as birds passed by overhead.

"Well... you guys are always busy, y'know? You all have missions to worry 'bout and I'm pretty sure you guys have your own problems to take care of. If I throw a tantrum, I'd just bother you guys. I don't wanna do that." she mumbled. Kakuzu's eyebrows furrowed.

"So what do you do?"

Sakura glanced up with surprisingly jaded eyes. Suddenly, she looked tired, older, and just devoid of her past cheeriness.

"Don't worry about it, Kakuzu-san. It's okay."


	14. Dusk

"Keep climbing trees and _**you'll get more bruises**_." Zetsu said as he watched the small girl climb the branches of an enormous tree situated on hill. Sakura giggled and kept on climbing higher.

"Who was the one who keeps saying _'the only one you can count on is yourself'_?" Sakura recited, pitching her voice as low as she could. She broke out into another fit of giggles before finally settling on one of the wider branches and staring at the purple-pink hues of the horizon. Zetsu sighed and sat down at the base of the tree.

"_**This is what you get for telling her a bunch of bullshit.**_ Shut up. I don't need to hear it from you."

He looked at the two baskets beside him, both filled with blueberries. Earlier in the day, Sakura had tugged him along to pick these ripe fruits. He went along with it, thinking it would only take thirty minutes or an hour at most. He most certainly didn't anticipate spending the entire afternoon plucking blueberries and talking about whimsical little things. Zetsu sighed a second time. Actually, he never anticipated spending much of his time with a little girl. The situation was almost laughable.

"Zetsu-san, you saw that butterfly in the bushes, right? And it broke out of the shell thingy? Why did it do that?" Sakura questioned.

"That butterfly was that caterpillar you made friends with a while back._** Remember that you said he disappeared and all that was left was that 'weird shell thingy'? The caterpillar turned into that shell before becoming the butterfly.**_"

He looked up and saw Sakura's face filled with utter astonishment.

"Amazing..." she muttered. She leaned back onto the bark and stared up at the the green leaves above her. Sakura reached upwards until her fingertips felt their waxy surfaces. "Zetsu-san, are you happy?"

He tilted his head to the side as he folded his arms behind his head.

"...I don't know._** I wasn't made to be happy.**_"

Sakura didn't know why, but his reply made her heart feel sad. She sat still on that tree branch for a good while before putting on her best smile.

"Well, I'm happy, Zetsu-san!" she chirped. She slowly started making her way down the tree with Zetsu watching her carefully, making sure she didn't fall.

"Oh?"

"Yup! I'm happy all the time! I'm able to spend all my time with Mama, Papa, Deidara-san, Tobi-san, Kakuzu-san, Itachi-san, Kisame-san, Hidan-san, Sasori-san, and you, Zetsu-san! I love everyone and I'm so lucky to have such wonderful people in my family! I dun' care what people say 'bout you guys!"

She was already halfway down the tree when Zetsu raised an eyebrow.

"_**What people say about us?**_"

"When I went to get groceries with Kisame-san, he did this jutsu that made him look different but I stayed the same. And there were these guys who kept talking about 'Katsuki sayin' that they're 'no good' and that they're 'awful people' and they're 'monsters', but I know that's not true!"

Sakura was now firmly on the ground with her tiny hands balled into fists. Her face was flushed red with anger and her eyes were absolutely furious.

"Why do people gotta' talk bad about you guys?!" she exclaimed. Her voice was squeaking at the end of her sentences, "Why do people say they hate you?! They 'aven't even met you guys b'fore so they shouldn't be saying such mean things!"

Tears started forming at the corners of her eyes, and for the first time, Zetsu felt slightly panicked and at a loss of what to do. He crouched down and wiped the tears from her eyes with his sleeve.

"... You_** don't**_need to cry..." he tried. Sakura sniffed.

"B-But why do they gotta do that?! You guys aren't bad people, I know you aren't... Everyone's nice an' kind an' why can't nobody see that?!"

It's been a long time since Zetsu had felt any sort of guilt. Maybe even the first time. Here was this naive girl crying about how they were good people even though it wasn't true, and he couldn't force himself to tell her any different. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand to try to make them stop while Zetsu went to pick up the blueberry baskets. He held his free hand out for her to grab. She stared up at him, eyes red-rimmed and puffy.

"_**Let's go home.**_ We'll make a blueberry cake_** for everyone**_ to eat. Would you like to do that?"

A wobbly smile surfaced from her tear-stained cheeks.

"Yeah."

As they walked home together, Zetsu couldn't make that guilty feeling leave his stomach. He knew that the Akatsuki weren't good people at all, himself included. They didn't deserve those tears from her.

And they sure as hell didn't deserve her unconditional love.


	15. Evening

A couple of miles from the Akatsuki House was Murasaki Lake. It was large and filled with clear waters that froze completely solid during the winter time. Because of this, the few people who knew about this lake took it upon themselves to use it to its fullest extent. One of these people, in fact, was Hidan.

Sakura was seated on a large rock where her legs could swing off the edge. She was bundled up in her puffy red jacket, dark green scarf, and the pink mittens Papa gave to her. Hidan had also kindly taken the liberty of wrapping her up in his cloak through her fierce protests. she told him he would get sick, and he laughed while saying that he wouldn't.

Now, she sat there in wonder. It was already dark outside so Hidan had set up lights around the lake using his chakra. He asked her what color she wanted. She couldn't make a decision.

Lit up with pink, orange, blue, green, and purple hues, Sakura watched as Hidan glided across the frozen lake on skates. Hidan was so... _graceful _that she just couldn't believe her eyes. Then again, she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw him wear glasses for the first time.

"Hidan-san, you're so cool~!" she shouted. Hidan grinned at her as he performed a few more spins and flips.

"Are you sure you don't wanna try it out?" he called, "I can teach ya', y'know!"

"Eh, I'm not too good at balancin', Hidan-san. I just wanna watch."

"You positive?"

"Un!" she chirped. Hidan chuckled lightly at her little 'un' and continued skating on the thick ice. Unconsciously, he conducted a couple more tricks, his eyes growing more and more blank by each passing second. Sakura noticed this and furrowed her brow. He was sad again. But luckily, she was smart enough to take raspberries and edamame from her desert.

She hopped off the rock and started pushing the snow around her into a pile. That pile soon turned into a large sphere. Content with it's shape, she turned to look at more of the snow around her.

* * *

By the time Hidan snapped out of his trance, a good thirty minutes had flown by. He sighed and turned to see what Sakura was up to. She herself was no where in sight, but what he saw on the edge of the lake...

He couldn't help himself from smiling as he said, "Heh, now what the hell is that?"

He glided until he was at the bank and took of his skates as he looked over Sakura's work of art. Sakura appeared soon enough with a cluster of sticks in her arms.

"Oh! Hidan-san, you're done already?" she asked. She put down her sticks and held up the Akatsuki cloak for Hidan to take. He took it gratefully.

"Yeah. So what's all of this?" he questioned, motioning to the two snowmen— or what he thought was snowmen— standing innocently in the snow.

"Look at it _reeaal_ close, Hidan-san! The tall one has the raspberries for eyes and the short one has the-the edamame beans for eyes! You see, Hidan-san? It's us! And I made it 'cause, you know, I thought it make you smile! And it did, din' it?!" she babbled on excitedly. She put the sticks on the snowmen and stepped backwards to admire her work. Hidan stood there with a fist to his mouth, concealing the amused smile that grew wider on his face.

"C'mon, kid. Let's get back. Your mom'll kill me if we get back late."

"But you can't die!"

"Well... never mind. Bottom line, I don't want to get your mom angry. She's f- _very_ scary when she's angry, seriously."

Sakura grabbed onto Hidan's hand and the two walked back to the base.

"Ah! Wait!"

At the sudden stroke of memory, Sakura ran back to the snowmen. She took the scarf off her person and wrapped it around the taller snowman's neck before running back to Hidan.

"Okay, let's go home!"


	16. Wind

"I'm really surprised that you can do stuff like this, Tobi-san. First cooking, now this? You're like a magician or something! But a shady magician." Sakura said. Tobi scowled.

"Why are you always doubting _me_?!" he said, "And why am I the shady one?!"

His mask was strewn aside at the far end of the kitchen counter as he worked on his most recent project. Sakura was seated on one of the stools, watching me cheerily.

"'Cause you usually don't do this. I didn't even come up with this idea to play!"

"I'm making bubbles!" he cried indignantly.

"And you can cook too which makes you more shady!"

Tobi's eye twitched as he finished making a pipe cleaner ring. He shut his bubbled solution in a jar and gave it to Sakura.

"Like a shady person would make a bubbles for a little girl." he commented. They were about to leave when Tobi heard footsteps coming towards the kitchen. Without another thought, he dove across the counter, grabbed his mask, and crashed onto the floor. Itachi stepped in a second later to see a heap of Tobi on the ground and a little Sakura giggling on the stool.

"Hi, Itachi-san!"

"Hello, Sakura."

He inclined his head towards the girl in greeting before casting a skeptical eye to his fellow Akatsuki member.

" I see that you're taking care of Sakura appropriately." he noted dryly. Tobi laughed nervously and popped back up onto his feet, his mask hanging crooked over his face.

"Ahaha... I just... I just slipped and now I'm gonna go outside with Sakura-chan, bye bye!"

He paced past Itachi and picked up a snickering Sakura.

"Shady~!" she sang. Tobi broke into a run down the hall.

* * *

Sakura giggled the entire way outside and was only set down when they arrived at the large tree on the hill. Tobi tossed off his mask and collapsed against the trunk with a tired sigh before he glared at Sakura accusingly.

"You're real giggly today, aren't you?"

Sakura said nothing and smiled as she sat down and unscrewed her jar. The breeze around them was restless, whipping Sakura's hair around her shoulders. She ignored it and dipped the pipe cleaner ring into the bubble solution and blew.

"Woah~! A lotta bubbles came out! You're a super shady magician!"

He gave up trying to defend himself at this point. As Sakura blew bubbles and watched them drift away in the wind, Tobi drew himself into his own thoughts. She used to be the future of the Akatsuki. She would've been the one to take the reigns of the organization after her father. But that wasn't going to happen now.

"Sakura, what do you think of true peace? A world where no one fights and everyone lives in harmony?"

Sakura scrunched up her face and continued blowing her bubbles.

"It'd be nice, but..."

"But?" Tobi ventured.

"But then I wouldn't be able to fight over the last dango stick with Itachi-san."

He chuckled quietly.

"Besides, I don't think life's gonna be life if bad things don't happen. I don't like bad things happening to me, but... but I keep telling myself that I'll be better from it. If a lotta bad things happen, then the happy things that come after would be even better."

Tobi's eyes shined.


	17. Clouds

Zetsu sat on the ground with a plastic cup to his ear and a string leading from the cup to out the window above him. Across from him were Sasori and Kisame who watched him with matching smirks.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

"_Wooden bastard_."

The string was tugged on a few times before Sakura's voice filtered through.

_"See Zetsu-san?! This is cool, isn't it?!"_

"I... suppose... _Is this really necessary_?"

_"Yes."_

Zetsu sighed.

"Fine. What else do you see?" he asked. He heard her hum for a few second before her upbeat voice came back to him.

_ "I see birds chirping up in the sky! The sky's really cloudy too, oh! And I just saw a bunny run into a bush! And I see a... guy? I can't really see his face though..."_

Zetsu rammed his arm through the wall as quick as he could after hearing those words with hopes to grab her in time. For him, the world was moving in slow motion. Kisame's hand made a grab for Samehada and Sasori's fingers twitched to get his puppets moving, but they were too late. Far too late.

They were outside in two seconds flat, weapons in hand and scanning the entire area for Sakura's small cluster of chakra. The three of them stood there, checking a twenty mile radius of their position. She wasn't there. She was nowhere.

"I think it's a logical conclusion that the shinobi who took her is an S-rank. A-rank at least." Sasori grimaced, "It's either she'll be used as leverage against us or it was a misunderstanding in her identity. I'm leaning towards the latter."

Kisame cursed loudly, "What's our plan? Have Zetsu locate him and for us to follow?"

"That's the only viable option."

Zetsu sunk into the ground silently and made it so his chakra faintly trailed above ground so the two could follow.

He was traveling as fast as he could through just under the earth as he checked every single chakra signature in his reach. Kami, how could he let this happen? Sakura was less than a foot away from him! He should've been able to save her in time. Damn it, he was a sensory type shinobi! He should've sensed that kidnapper from a mile away and-

_Wait._

Zetsu faltered his pace before he regained his composure. He furrowed his eyebrows and let full confusion take over his entire expression. His heart was pounding in his chest that surged an anxiousness in his veins he had never felt before.

"We're worried about her...? _Of course we're worried! Don't you remember how we reacted? We panicked!_ Isn't it natural to panic? _We don't panic, moron! And there we were, breaking the wall to try and grab her in time._"

An hour passed and they still had no leads, but they hadn't stopped for any breaks. They had to find Sakura, no questions asked. And they wouldn't stop until they knew she was alright. Zetsu thought that he was the only one extremely concerned over Sakura's well being, but the looks on Kisame's and Sasori's faces told him otherwise.

"How could we let ourselves grow so attached? We aren't even human. _Tch, why are you asking me? I don't have the answers to all your questions._"

Suddenly, he felt it. Zetsu made a quick turn right and headed towards a safe house filled with five large chakras and a familiar much smaller one. His head poked up above the ground.

"_Kill them all _once I've got her."

He sunk back into the ground. He reappeared in the safe house ceiling and saw Sakura passed out on the couch and the ones who arranged her kidnapping conversing quietly around a table.

"Luckily we found her to fill our quota." one of them said.

"And she'll sell pretty high with that pink hair of hers. What is she, four? Five? The young ones are real popular on the market these days. We can make a hundred thousand outta her, easy."

Anger surged through Zetsu's veins as he retreated from the ceiling and reappeared just underneath the floorboards. His arms reached up through the couch and quickly pulled Sakura's body down towards him. When Kisame and Sasori saw him emerge from the tree they were perched on, they launched with murderous intent.

Zetsu gazed down at the small girl in his arms. She was slightly bruised, but he didn't know if that was from the kidnapping or just the ones she had before. He checked over her and confirmed with relief that she had no broken bones or head trauma.

"Sorry for not watching you close enough, _brat._"


	18. Snow

"_Excuse you?_"

Sakura laughed and ran away.

"Did you just throw a snowball at me, pint-size?! Oi, come back here!"

Hidan shook his head to get the cold snow out of his hair and chased after her. Her exuberant laughter echoed through the forest as she tried to escape from Hidan by making a dive for cover behind Kakuzu's legs. Hidan clumped together snow and threw it lightly, as to not hurt Sakura. His aim was perfect and there was nothing—

The snowball hit Kakuzu's side.

Sakura covered her mouth in an attempt to mask her laughter. Kakuzu slowly looked down at his snow covered side, looked at it for a couple of seconds, then raised his eyes to stare blankly at Hidan. The man was terrified, rooted to the spot with no intention of making any sudden movements. This was it. This was going to be Sakura's first bloodbath. Sakura was going to witness him 'die' and her parents were going to kill them thoroughly once they found out. Kakuzu raised his arm and shot his hand out towards Hidan.

But his hand completely missed, instead slamming against the tree right behind Hidan. All was still...

Until a mountain of snow fell off the branches and collapsed right atop Hidan, virtually burying him.

Sakura couldn't contain herself and exploded into laughter, clutching her sides and trying to keep herself from falling onto the ground. Hidan's horrified expression turned into a scandalized one as he stood there with his head poking out of the snow.

"Moron." Kakuzu commented languidly. Sakura kept on laughing.

"Double team? Oho. _This. Is. War._"

* * *

After the day had ended, the score was a staggering 53-17 with Hidan being the obvious loser. As per usual with competitions within the Akatsuki household, Hidan was now succumbed to whatever ploy Kakuzu and Sakura had in store for him. He couldn't see that going anywhere _near_ well. But for now, the three of them had situated themselves at the hearth of the house.

The fire was warm against their skin and the were wrapped in sweaters and blankets to help keep warm. Sakura was snuggled in Hidan's lap and had drifted off to sleep some time ago. Kakuzu, for once, didn't focus on money or finances. Instead he was seated beside Hidan and was staring into the fire. He spared a glance at his partner who had his arms draped protectively around Sakura's small form.

"I thought Jashin was the only thing you cared about."

Startled, Hidan's head jerked to the side. He smirked.

"And I thought you weren't able to start up a conversation that wasn't about money, prick."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. Hidan's smirk quickly faded as he looked down at the slumbering girl.

"I never said that Jashin was the only thing I cared about. I just... haven't found anything else just as important."

"Until now."

"Oh, like you can talk, fucker." Hidan scoffed, "What about you, huh? You just got into a snowball fight with a little girl and _me_. The bastard I worked with for years would have _never _done shit like that."

Kakuzu was silent for a few moments, mulling the notion over in his head.

"... Perhaps." he agree. Hidan choked on his spit before looking at Kakuzu with a more horrified stare than when he had first hit him with a snowball. Did... Did Kakuzu really agree with him? Just like that?

"My Kami, you're going crazy."

"Shut up."

Sakura shifted a little before settling down again. Hidan sighed.

"She's really got us wrapped around her fingers, eh?"

"Be quiet before I knock off your head and leave it to rot."

"There's the money-grubbing piece of shit I know!"


	19. Thunder

"Now what did I tell you about staying out in wet clothes for too long?"

"..."

"_What did I say?_"

A sigh.

"... To not to."

Sakura nodded firmly, her mouth pressed into a thin line.

"That's right, Itachi-san! I told you and told you and now-" she paused to look at the thermometer in her hands, "103°F, Itachi-san! 1-0-3! You gotta fever!"

Itachi was sitting upright in his bed with his arms crossed over his chest and red laden cheeks. It was already enough that he had contracted a fever during a simple mission, but to be reprimanded for it by someone half his height was just embarrassing.

"I assure you that I'm quite alright, Sakura. I am still able to perform my duties." he tried. She shook her head.

"Nu-uh! You're gonna say in bed until you're all better, no exceptions."

"Sakura..."

Kisame entered the room with a grin.

"She's right. You've got no choice but to stay in bed until you're better. Leader-sama had just informed me that we've got no missions slated for us the next two weeks. You've got nothing to worry about."

Itachi stared at him blankly, his eye twitching every so often. Eventually, he glanced down at Sakura, admitting defeat.

"Fine." he sighed. Sakura grinned.

For the next few days, Sakura was up and and about the house asking everyone how to take care of a sick person. First she approached Tobi, questioning him about what people should eat if they want to get better.

"If someone's sick, you should feed them soup. Maybe even some ginseng tea or orange juice." he said.

"Then-Then can you help me make something for Itachi-san?!" he asked hopefully. Tobi scratched his head.

"I don't know, Sakura..."

He glanced down and saw Sakura look up at him expectantly. Her eyes were wide and pleading, and her bottom lip was puffed out. He glared playfully at her.

"You know I can't resist those puppy dog eyes."

"So does that mean you'll help me?"

Tobi smiled slightly from underneath his mask.

"Of course. How could I say no to you?"

"Yay!"

And that's how Sakura ended up carrying a small tray with a bowl of ton-jiru soup and a cup of both orange juice and ginseng tea. She happily, but carefully, trotted over to Itachi's door. She carefully balanced the tray on one hand while she knocked with the other.

"Itachi-san, it's me! May I come in?"

She heard a quiet 'yes' and she quickly turned the knob and carried the tray properly. Sakura pushed the door open and shut the door once she was inside. Itachi was upright in his bed with glasses on the bridge of his nose with a book cracked open in his hand. He set his book down when Sakura presented him with the tray.

"Here you go, Itachi-san!" she chirped. His eyes softened.

"Thank you very much, Sakura." he murmured. He patted her head gently. She smiled at him brightly and hopped onto the seat beside his bed. Outside, the sky roared and the clouds flashed in the darkness. They conversed for a long while about trivial things, but even if it was just small talk, Sakura was enjoying every second of it. Itachi slipped off his glasses.

"Could you please put these in the drawer next to you?" he asked. She nodded and pulled open the drawer, but then gazed curiously at a picture she saw inside.

"Itachi-san... who's the boy in this picture? He kinda looks like you." she said. She then saw the strangest thing. Itachi's eyes faded from its usual red, becoming a slightly cloudy black.

"He's someone I knew long ago." he answered softly. Sakura cocked her head to the side.

"Is... Is he one of the people up in the stars?"

He shook his head.

"No. Absolutely not. But..."

Itachi shook his head and sighed, giving Sakura a small smile.

"In due time, Sakura, I will tell you the story."


	20. Rain

"Splash, splash, splash, splash!" Sakura sang. She jumped in every puddle in her path dressed in her lime green raincoat and navy blue rain boots, her green frog umbrella raised high over her head. Deidara followed close behind her with a clear umbrella popped open and resting easy on his shoulder.

"Oi, don't go to far ahead, hm!" he called.

"O~kay!"

She giggled at every puddle she stepped in keeping just a ways away ahead of Deidara. He couldn't help but grin at how happy she was just frolicking on the road. The two were on their way to the nearest village to restock on medicine. It turns out that Itachi's sickness had spread to the other members. Sasori, who couldn't get sick, was stuck back at the house trying to cook with a sniffling, nearly delusional Tobi telling him what to do.

Deidara and Sakura managed to keep themselves from catching the bug, and Deidara prided himself a for a few minutes after stepping out in the rain for never once getting sick in the past fifteen years. Sakura was utterly amazed.

"Ne, Deidara-san, are we almost there?" she asked, twenty minutes down the road.

"Ten more minutes, un. Why? Eager to get back home, hm?"

"I'm just a little worried. I mean, is it _okay_ for Sasori-san to be in the kitchen with a sick Tobi telling him what to do?"

Sakura thought about it.

"I'm sure Danna'll be fine. The worst thing he can do is blow up the kitchen, hm. And I don't think he's _that_ stupid." he said. Sakura giggled and continued to step in nearly every puddle she saw until they made it to town. The sky was pouring at this point and most people were off the streets to take refuge in their homes. The two entered the closest store they saw and quickly relished in the warm air the temporary shelter provided.

"Just medicine, un?"

"And orange juice and honey!" Sakura happily provided. Deidara set aside both umbrellas before going deeper into the store. Sakura followed close behind and clutched the sleeve of his cloak so she wouldn't get lost. Once in the medicinal aisle, Deidara crouched down to peruse through the items. Sakura took this opportunity to play with his long blonde hair. He didn't mind.

"Deidara-san, why is your hair so long?" she questioned curiously, "It goes all the way to the middle of your back!"

He picked up a pill bottle and turned it around to read the back.

"I've always had it this long, un. I like it this way. It feels... familiar." he answered.

"Have you ever thought about cutting it?"

"Hm... nah. Seems like way too much work." he admitted. He stood with a couple of pill bottles in his hand and made his way to the refrigerated section.

"Then could I cut your hair?"

She looked up at him with the most pleading face she could muster. He returned it with a teasing smirk.

"Oh? Could you handle such big responsibility, hm?" she asked. Sakura nodded furiously.

"I can!"

Deidara grinned.

"I see, hm. But maybe I'll let you when I know you can handle scissors correctly." he said. Sakura pouted, but easily relented.

"Fine. But you gotta pinky promise!" she exclaimed as she held her pinky finger out to him. He did the same, hooking his finger with hers.

"I promise."

After getting all the groceries, they walked back out into the pelting rain.

* * *

"We're back~!" Sakura called out. Her and Deidara slipped off their shoes and left their umbrellas at the door before walking towards the kitchen. Once they got there, Deidara dropped the grocery bag and Sakura's jaw unhinged.

The kitchen was absolutely obliterated.

The stove looked as if it had been exploded and the cabinets surrounding it had been charred to a crisp. Weird looking looking liquid was dripping from the ceiling and the granite counter top was cracked in half. Sasori was nowhere to be seen, and Tobi was lying motionless face down just a ways away from the whole scene. He was snoring.

"See Deidara-san! I _told_ you! Sasori-san- THE THING ON THE CEILING IS MOVING!"

From that day forward, Sasori wasn't allowed to cook. Ever. Again.


	21. Rainbow

"Is this your first time seeing one?"

"Yeah... it's so... _pretty_..."

Sakura stared up at the sky and the seven stripes of color that were draped against it. It had finished raining after a week straight, and the morning was rewarded with an absolutely magnificent rainbow. She climbed up to the roof early in the morning before anyone else woke up and stared at the rainbow until an hour later when Sasori had come up to join her.

"Have you even seen something so beautiful?" she asked with wonder-filled eyes. Sasori averted his stare, instead keeping it glued to the rainbow above him.

"Once."

Sakura furrowed her brow.

"Once?" she repeated questioningly. Sasori shook his head as if trying to dismiss his previous words.

"Nevermind. It isn't important."

His eyes were sad again. They were glossed over, seemingly in regret like they were when they last watched the sunrise with Deidara. Sakura wisely left it alone and returned her attention to the rainbow overhead. The early sun was warm against her skin and shone brilliantly in the sky. Birds chirped faintly in the distance and a breeze rippled through the deep green trees.

A sudden notion bubbled in Sasori's subconscious as he looked over at Sakura. Perhaps he could ask her to finally settle the score between him and Deidara.

"What are your thoughts about art?" he asked.

"... Art?" Sakura repeated. She heard the word uttered many times at home and made the assumption that they could only be either eternal or a blast.

"Aa. Art. More specifically, what do you think is true art?"

He didn't expect her to have a real answer. She was too young to have gone and seen anything of real value, like he and Deidara had witnessed in their respective artistic excursions. Oddly enough, he saw her shoulders sag just a bit, but her smile was still plastered on her face.

"Anything you'll always remember. Maybe it'll be a story or a memory or something like that. Art that happens in a moment but lasts forever and ever!"

Sasori inclined his head.

"How so?"

"Well... well I think art is people. When people do things it's art in its own way an' if they do things you'll remember then it's called true art!"

That was certainly an... interesting way to see things. He accepted the answer with a slight nod.

"I see. And what if no one comes around to be worthwhile in your memory?"

She smiled widely at him.

"Then you gotta be patient. But I know how much you hate waiting, Sasori-san!"

He smirked and patted her head.

"You're learning well."

They lapsed back into a comfortable silence. Sakura's words mulled over in his head and considered them for a long while. He signed.

_'You would've loved Sakura so much, Kaede...'_


	22. Humidity

"Wow! You swim super fast, Kisame-san!"

Kisame burst through the surface of the water and pushed his hair back over his head.

"You think?"

"Mm! Like those great whites on TV!"

Sakura was sitting in a purple tube and was drifting lazily around Murasaki Lake. Kisame took to lapping from one end of the lake to the other to get his stamina up.

"You callin' me a shark?"

"Yep. You even got the pointy teeth to go with it."

She reached over the the grassy bank to pink up a smoothie Tobi made for her. Kisame popped up over the surface after a few more laps.

"Sakura! Could you get me my drink?" he asked. She obliged and grabbed the sports bottle that sat right beside her smoothie. Suspicious, she opened the top and sniffed.

"Kisame-san!" she gasped, "This is _sake_!"

"Yeah."

"You- You can't swim drunk!" she sputtered incredulously. He laughed and slowly floated over.

"All of that isn't going to make me drunk, Sakura."

"Well you can't swim on a broken liver either so no! You can't have your sake! Drink the smoothie instead!"

She shut the bottle and pushed it towards their stuff and out of arm's reach. Sakura held the smoothie out with a no-nonsense look on her face once Kisame made it to her. He pouted.

"Oh come on, not even a little? That's my usual twelve o'clock sake!"

"Go take it at the other twelve o'clock!"

"But I'll be sleeping!"

"Exactly!"

She stuck her tongue out at him and urged the smoothie into his hands until he finally took it.

"Now whenever I'm around, you've not allowed to drink anymore!"

Kisame puffed out his cheeks, mimicking what Sakura had done many times before, and sulkily drank the strawberry banana smoothie.

* * *

Back at the house, Deidara and Hidan were lounging about in the living room with a pile of filthy clothes behind the couch. Kisame sighed exasperatedly and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What the hell is that?"

Deidara looked up at him.

"Laundry, hm."

"Why isn't it in the washer?!"

Hidan grinned.

"The Uchiha's washing his delicates." he snarked. He winked at Sakura, causing her to giggle.

"_Then why did you have to take it out of your rooms?!_"

"We would've been too lazy to get them later, un."

Sakura thought of Kisame like he was one of those mommy ducks she sometimes saw by the lake. Even though he was drunk half the time, he would be the one to clean the house and force everyone else to help. As him and the other two argued, Sakura padded over to the ridiculous pile of clothes and marveled at it.

She really wondered how dirty the house would be if Kisame wasn't here. Suddenly, something bright red caught her eye. Sakura pulled it out from the middle of the pile and stared at it confusedly.

"What's this?"

In the midst of the argument, Hidan turned his head and saw what was in Sakura's hand. Air caught in his throat as abruptly exploded in laughter. He smothered his face in a nearby pillow to drown out the sounds of his cackling. Kisame was wide-eyed, and Deidara was mortified.

"Is it... something funny?" Sakura asked. She still had absolutely no clue about what was going on. Deidara hopped off the couch and crouched down in front of Sakura.

"I-It's nothing, Sakura, un! Re-Really!" he stuttered. He took the lacy red bra from her hands and shoved it into his cloak before throwing his head over his shoulder.

"Shut UP Hidan, hm! I bet you're just laughing because I can get laid and you can't!"

Hidan wouldn't stop, his face growing redder and tears streaming from his eyes. Sakura blinked.

"What's 'getting laid' mean?"


	23. Of Butterflies and Flowers

It was snowing outside.

Deidara first took notice of the beautiful crystals that gently floated down. He smiled to himself. Sakura had been waiting a long while for this time of year to roll around again. He walked to her room and knocked twice before letting himself in.

"Sakura, did you see that it's snowing outside?" he asked happily. She was still wrapped in the covers on her bed with deep red dusting on her cheeks.

"... Is it?" she rasped before she was struck with a bout of coughing. Deidara sat at the edge of her bed and felt her neck.

"Probably a fever, hm..." he muttered to himself, "So, how are you feeling, un? Tired? Nauseous? Hot? Cold?"

"I'm... I'm really tired..." she murmured. Deidara gently stroked her hair.

"Get back to sleep, then. I'll get some medicine for you and I'll get the idiot to whip up some ramen or something, hm." he said. She nodded, but as he turned around, she reached out and grasped the hem of his shirt. He looked over his shoulder.

"Mm? What is it?"

"I... I have something to tell you... about me being sick... Deidara-s-san..."

* * *

"She's dying?" Kisame questioned incredulously, "What do you mean she's dying?"

"Her bone marrow is producing abnormal myeloblasts, a type of white blood cell. Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. We've taken her to numerous specialists and they can't do anything about it. There was a treatment called _chemotherapy_, but the development of it is still in its early stages so much so that it's too risky to use on her. She has a fever running now and it's taking an even bigger toll on her body. I don't know how much time she has left. Not much, I imagine." Konan explained quietly.

She stood before the others, straight-faced as ever, but her eyes were among the saddest ones he had ever seen. Itachi, who was also in the room, didn't say a word and merely kept up his level gaze even after Konan had spoken. He didn't know what else to do. Was he shocked? Of course he was. There was nothing at all that hinted to the fact that she was sick, much less _dying_. There had been the bruises, but using her clumsiness as an excuse had made them all fall for her lie.

Once Konan dismissed herself, both Kisame and Itachi walked to the kitchen to find Kakuzu reading through medical papers with Sasori looking over his shoulder.

"Cancer, eh?" Sasori drawled, "I certainly wasn't expecting that. Sakura knew it was going to happen to her too, Deidara had told me."

"Sakura knew? Well, what did she tell Deidara-san?" asked Kisame.

"She said she didn't tell us because she didn't want us to worry about her. She didn't want us thinking that she was just another body with a timer. She wanted both her and us to be happy with the time we spent, all without the thought that she'd be gone sooner that she... _we _would've liked."

It was silent.

Hidan, who had not uttered a single word the entire time since he had learned of Sakura's condition, scoffed from his seat at the kitchen island, his back facing everyone else.

"Of course she'd say some shit like that. She always does."

* * *

They couldn't disagree with him.

"Aren't you busy, Papa?"

"Yes. But that does not mean I cannot take the time out of my day to visit you."

"But... But Papa's sick too! You shouldn't-!"

"Hush, Sakura. I am quite alright."

Sakura wasn't convinced in the slightest but kept her mouth shut. Nagato, who was seated on the bed beside his daughter, smoothed down her hair. All Akatsuki members were absent this current moment, giving him the perfect opportunity to come visit his daughter himself. Her words were right, though. He really shouldn't be out and about by himself.

His body was still unstable, being as weak and malnourished as he was, and his chakra levels were still rather low. Konan had even argued against him to keep him from moving, but he absolutely had to. It didn't feel right socializing with Sakura from Pein's body, and it certainly wasn't fair to her either. She deserved a father that was always there for her. Not somebody like him who was always holed away in a tree in a different country.

"I regret not being here for you when you needed me most." he said quietly, "I know that no matter how much time I spend with you now will not make up for the time I had been away."

She smiled up at him.

"You don't haf'ta say sorry. It's not your fault that you're busy! You have a job to do and I don't wanna get in the way."

..._God_, he was an awful father. Nagato laid down beside her where she promptly snuggled into his chest. She frowned.

"You need ta' eat, Papa. You're gonna get more sick. You're all bone!" she exclaimed before coughing a few times. Nagato shut his eyes and exhaled slowly before wrapping his arms around his daughter and bringing her closer. How could he let this happen to her? His own flesh and blood... sick without a cure. And she was so accepting of it that the mere thought of it broke his heart. He loved her, really, he did. He should've shown her.

He should've been the one at her side every day- the one she'd tell her stories to and the one to teach her all the things she needed to know when she grew up. But instead, he had the Akatsuki who raised her for him. Nagato owed everything to every single one of them. They were there for her when he wasn't. They were her family when he couldn't be. They were her life when he had his own miles away.

Sakura looked up at him worriedly.

"... Papa... why're you crying, Papa...?"

He placed a kiss to her forehead.

"Remember that I love you, Sakura. I always have, and I always will. You deserve a much better father than anyone I could have become." he said. Sakura's pale hands reached up to wipe away his tears.

"I only have one Papa, and that Papa is the only one I'd ever want!" she exclaimed, grinning brightly. Seeing that look on her face, Nagato couldn't help himself. His hold on her tightened as he hugged her.

"Sakura... Please... Please don't go..."

* * *

Dawn had just broken in, and it was raining. Deidara was at Sakura's bedside with his sketchbook and colored pencils. Sakura was nestled comfortably in her sheets, watching him draw all sorts of eyes. She smiled.

"I like that one." Sakura said, pointing to one narrowed with a striking blue and purple contrast.

"Do you? I like it too, hm. Do you want me to draw someone with these eyes, un?" he asked. She thought about it for a minute before shaking her head.

"I think the eyes are really pretty, but I think you should draw something prettier." she suggested as cheerily as she could. He set down his sketchbook and took the towel off her forehead to dip it in ice water and ring it out before placing it back to where it was before.

"And what would that be, hm?"

"Butterflies. Could you draw me butterflies, Deidara-san?"

He forced a small smile onto his face.

"... Alright, un. If that's what you want."

Before he could pick up his sketchbook, her weak hand lifted up and tugged at his sleeves. He raised his eyes only to find her worried.

"Please don't be sad, Deidara-san." she said. "Smile for real, like this!"

She gave him a brilliant grin. When he mimicked the grin, Sakura clapped her hands giddily.

"See, Deidara-san?! Isn't that much better?!" she chirped. He chuckled in spite of himself and tousled Sakura's hair.

"Much better, hm."

They sat in silence for a little while longer with Deidara sketching butterflies all over the page. Once half the page was covered with small butterflies, he sighed and set down his things on Sakura's nightstand.

"Do you remember the time we went to the beach, Sakura, un?"

She brightened up at the memory.

"I remember! It was so fun! We built sandcastles, buried Kisame-san neck deep in the sand, and watched as you and Hidan-san had a competition of who could swim the fastest!" she grinned. That memory was one of the ones engraved so perfectly in her mind. Deidara smiled sadly.

"It was fun, hm. One of the few times I've had fun in a long, long time."

Fun. That was a hard word to try to associate the Akatsuki with. Sakura snuggled into her bed and held onto Deidara's hand as she did so. As she fell asleep, she failed to notice the way Deidara clenched his teeth and cover his eyes with his free hand.

* * *

Sakura happily slurped up the ramen Tobi made her for breakfast. He sat on the chair beside her bed, staring down at his hands. Sparing a glance to the side, he couldn't help but wonder how she could keep on such a happy face everyday.

"Sakura..."

She looked at him with cheeks full of noodles.

"Hm? Wha' ish it?"

"... How do you keep a smile on your face?"

Sakura hummed and chewed before setting the bowl down on her nightstand.

"I'm never sad. I think that's why." she answered. "Why'd you ask, Tobi-san? Is it because you can't keep a smile on your face? Or... maybe you already do. Do you? I dunno. You don't take your mask off a lot."

Tobi smirked and slipped off his mask, setting it next to the ramen bowl. He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.

"You're right. I can't really keep a smile on my face. It's been very hard for me ever since my genin team thought I died. Through everything that's happened... I haven't found the time to be happy." he said. He had a hollow smile on his face as he said that, sending a shiver down Sakura's spine. But she was curious about something.

"Why? Everyone has the time to be happy if they make the time. What happened?" she questioned.

"Well... I got injured and spent a very long time healing. During that time, someone I cared for was killed by someone I knew. After that, I came to the Akatsuki and began to pull the strings from behind the scenes. As I said, I didn't have the time."

Someone he cared for was killed by someone he knew?

"Do you blame that person for killing that someone you cared for?"

"Of course!" Tobi snapped, causing Sakura to jump a bit. He didn't notice, "He killed her! He _impaled_ her chest with his chidori!"

He clenched his teeth to try to keep his anger in as his head fell into his hands. He murmured a 'sorry' and inwardly berated himself for losing his cool in front of her. When he composed himself and turned his attention back to her, she had a contemplative look in her eyes.

"Tobi-san... let's say that you're really thirsty and you have a cup of dirty water."

"...Okay...?"

Tobi wasn't sure about how to feel about such a random thought, but went along with it.

"In front of you is a really pretty, clear river. Since you're really thirsty, you'd want to drink that water, right?"

"Yeah. That makes sense."

"So what are you gonna do with that dirty water?" she asked. Tobi furrowed his eyebrows. Wasn't the answer obvious?

"I'd get rid of it. There's no need for me to have it with such clean water in front of me." he answered. Sakura smiled and patted to the spot on the bed beside her. He moved to sit on her red silk sheets. Her window rattled a bit from the strong winds outside.

"I know you can't ever change the past, Tobi-san. It's like the dirty water in your cup. Even if you try to clean it as best as you can, it'll never be that 100% pure water. And that's okay, y'know? You have so much ahead of you, all that clean water you could drink from! If you keep that dirty water with you, you're just gonna be thirsty, and you can't do nothin' about it. If you just keep drinking it, you're just gonna keep gettin' yourself sick."

He exhaled through his nose and looked at her with sorrowful eyes.

"I _can't_ forgive him, Sakura..."

She placed her hands on his.

"You won't ever know until you try! Keep your heart open and if bad things can get in, good things can get in too! Isn't that right, Tobi-san?"

Her eyes were wide and hopeful, making him sigh and giving her a small smile.

"Obito."

"E-Eh?"

"You can call me Obito. It's my real name, after all."

* * *

He sat there, reading through his bounties silently with Sakura snoozing quietly in her bed. Kakuzu couldn't keep himself from wondering as his eyes drifted to her fragile form.

"What would you have become, I wonder..." he murmured. Sakura was so young who had such a bright future ahead of herself._ Had_ being the key word. For her, they each planned to teach her the gist of their specialties to see what she would excel or be interested in. Deidara with his bombs, Itachi with genjutsu, Kisame with swordsmanship, and so on and so forth.

He remembered one day especially when he was dealing with finances amongst everyone else. He didn't know how the topic of the conversation had changed, but it did and nearly everyone failed to to notice. The Akatsuki were talking about her future as if she were one of their own. It wasn't too long ago, actually.

Maybe he was the only one who noticed as he was a silent observer. Kisame, Hidan, Deidara... they were genuinely ecstatic with small smiles on their faces as they discussed a training regime for Sakura once she turned six. Kakuzu received a startling epiphany in that moment.

They were _changing_.

No, it wasn't one of those dramatic changes that happened with the snap of one's fingers, nor was it the sudden thought that they needed to better themselves overnight. That was definitely not the case. Every member of the Akatsuki seemed to have the exact same personality as they had before, but something in their actions had somewhat... differed.

Kakuzu had to watch them for a few moments longer before he realized it. Their actions had changed because they were happy.

Happiness was a word uttered so scarcely and shown so little in the organization that Kakuzu wouldn't be surprised if someone began to forget what the word actually meant. At first, he thought he was surely losing his goddamn mind. They were changing? _Because of a little girl?_

Ha.

A ridiculous notion.

Yet as ridiculous as it sounded, here he was, sitting at the bedside of a dying child when he didn't even need to be here. Kakuzu sighed heavily and shut his book.

He was one of the most powerful, feared missing-nins who had ever dared to carry the title. He had killed hundreds over the course of his life and not once did he regret it. _He_ was a cold-blooded murderer. A monster.

Kakuzu looked out the window. It was still the early afternoon and snow was falling softly to the ground.

But he couldn't bring himself to leave the room.

* * *

"Ice cream?!"

Kisame put a finger to his lips as he shut the door with his back. Sakura quickly covered her mouth, as if to erase her surprised exclamation.

"Ice cream?" she repeated, this time lowering her voice to a whisper. She couldn't keep her happiness and joy out of her voice when he stepped in with a small bowl of rocky road ice cream.

"Just a bit, kiddo. But don't tell anyone I gave you some."

Sakura whisper shouted a 'thank you' before grabbing the bowl and immediately scooping a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. She melted as the chocolate-y taste touched her tongue.

"You're the bestest, Kisame-san!"

He grinned and tousled her hair.

"Alright, alright. But seriously, don't tell anyone I did this. They'll have my ass for it."

Sakura giggled and stuffed more ice cream into her mouth. Kisame let the grin fall from his face as he eased into his seat. In the beginning he didn't believe that Sakura was really sick. How could he? She was so cheerful all the time that it would have never crossed his mind that she had a terminal disease. She said she didn't want to worry them...

Kami, he didn't think someone could be so selfless. She was dying and all she wanted was for them not to worry. Hell, she didn't even look like she was afraid of death! Sakura was a child. She shouldn't have been so accepting, or even understand, what fate had in store for her.

When Kisame first saw her in her bed, pale and far more thin than she needed to be, his stomach dropped and finally settled with the fact that Sakura wasn't going to make it. A humorless smile creased his face and he raised his fingers to massage his temple.

How ironic was it? The first person to die in the Akatsuki, _a criminal organization_, was the person who didn't do anything wrong in the first place.

"You're a good kid, Sakura." he said. She looked at him with a mouth full of ice cream and a bright grin gracing her lips.

"Than' 'shu, Kishame-shan!" she exclaimed, "After this, can 'shu take me ou'shide?"

Kisame peered out the window. The sun was high in the sky it being only midday, and the weather seemed relatively decent.

"Sure, why not? I'll just refill your humidifier and we'll get going."

* * *

Sakura was sitting up in her bed with a mug of milk and honey in her hands. Her throat was looking a little worse for wear and she had woken up in the middle of the night because of the discomfort. Itachi came into her room a few minutes later with a cup of warm milk to soothe her throat. She was even more ecstatic when he sat down in the chair when he decided to keep her company for the next few hours.

Rain pelted the window and the low rumble of thunder hummed in their ears. Itachi was without a book this very early morning. Normally, he would silently read a book if he wasn't listening to Sakura babble on and on about her day.

"Sasori mentioned that you enjoyed listening to stories, and I understand that Hidan comes often to read you those illustrious novels."

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed.

"... Fairy tales. I meant fairy tales."

She beamed.

"For a long time, nearly a year now, you've told me countless things about yourself. You've also shared much of your knowledge and blatant curiosity. Perhaps, before it's too late, I should return the favor."

Her eyes brightened as every ounce of her attention was glued to him. Itachi was ready to tell her about his past life and experiences. More importantly, he was going to talk about the boy in the picture.

"Once, I had a little brother named Sasuke, the boy in the picture. He's five years my junior. When we were younger, he would always follow me around and ask me to spend time with him. I was busy, but every now and then I would make time for him. I loved him. In fact, I still do. Thought I can't say the same about how he feels about me." he sighed. "When I was thirteen, I killed my entire family except for him. He resents me deeply for it, and I expect nothing less."

Itachi expected even the slightest form of disgust from Sakura or even a disapproving frown. But her eyes, as young as they were, were understanding and reassuring. Those eyes calmed him a bit as he continued with his story.

"He turns sixteen this year. But for the past eight years of his life, he's been getting stronger for the sole purpose of killing me, like I expected him to. But I didn't expect him to be fully consumed by his lust for revenge. He even left the village to get stronger- something I never wanted him to do. Sasuke didn't deserve all the things I did to him, so when the times comes for us to truly meet again, I will allow him to kill me."

"You can't!" Sakura exclaimed. Her throat burned viciously from her outburst and she took a big gulp of her milk. Itachi pulled out a sketch pad and pencil from her drawer and handed it over to her. She scribbled down her thoughts quickly and sloppily.

_You gota live!_

"My reason for living was for him, Sakura. I didn't want him to be corrupted from my clan's ideals and I wanted to free him. I was given the chance when I was ordered to kill the clan. If killing me will make him happy, then I will welcome death with open arms." he said. Sakura looked so sad after hearing this and her eyes grew glossy. She scribbled some more.

_Dont you hav anothr reeson? Arnt you hapy here wid the Akatski?_

Itachi poked her forehead.

"My happiness doesn't matter. Don't worry, Sakura. I'll be alright."

_So that means... soon, I get ta see you in the stars?_

He smiled softly and nodded.

"Aa. We'll be together in the stars, and we'll wait for everyone else."

* * *

A small pile of fairy tale books were at Hidan's feet, most of them already having been read through. The one he was currently reading was 'The Vampire Princess'. When he had finished, he glanced at Sakura's face. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her cheeks were puffed out.

"Oi, oi, oi. What's with the face?" he teased, "Don't over think things, you'll hurt yourself, seriously."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'm just confused, Hidan-san." she pouted.

"About what?"

"Well... about the princess. Since she lives in the land of vampires, she gets to be young forever, right? She never grows up and she'll never die, so she's immortal. Is she... happy that she doesn't have to go through life?" she asked. Hidan took off his reading glasses and placed it in an inner pocket of his cloak that was hanging on his chair.

"How do I explain this... everyone has a different kind of 'happy', Sakura. You might not think someone's happy, but that's just from your point of view. For the Vampire Princess, she was just happy to live forever." he tried to explain.

"But what about the human boy she fell in love with? She didn't end up with him in the end. All she did was watch him grow old, have a family, then die. Actually... the Vampire Princess kinda reminds me of you, Hidan-san."

"Hah?" Hidan said, confused that the subject of the conversation had now fallen upon him. Sakura nodded furiously, making herself slightly dizzy. She snuggled into her pillow.

"You're immortal, aren't you, Hidan-san?" she questioned.

"Well... yeah. Basically."

"So does that make you happy? Being immortal? Not being about to grow old?"

Hidan opened his mouth, as his answer should be obvious. The word 'yes' should have flown out quickly and leisurely like is was the most conspicuous thing in the world- but Hidan closed his mouth and looked at the book in his hands. Did this immortal life make him happy? It was a few steps higher than his childhood.

Hell, the only reason he turned to Jashin was because he had nothing. He was born in downtown Yugakure. A place filled to the brim with shady figures and low-lives. His mother was a prostitute, but she was a good woman. She took on two other jobs during the day to make sure they had food on the table daily. He truly did love his mother, but she was raped and killed when he was eleven.

At fifteen, he found the cult. They offered him everything, and he took it because he had nothing to lose. Was he happy that his life turned out this way?

"... No. I'm not happy." he answered, "I'm tired of bowing my head to the name 'Jashin'. I'm tired of sacrificing people all the time. I'm tired of acting like a voodoo doll just to appease some _fuck_ that doesn't exist!"

Sakura had shrunk a bit into her covers when he started to raise his voice. When Hidan saw this, he let out a shaky exhale and ran a hand through his unkempt hair.

"Sorry, kid. I didn't mean to get loud." he apologized.

"S'okay. Can I... Can I asked you one more question? Just one more and I'll stop." she said. Hidan shrugged. Another question couldn't hurt. "It's just that what you said was confusing too. If you're unhappy with your life, how come you haven't done anything about it?"

It was snowing outside. The fall was gentle and peppered the ground just enough so that a thin blanket of pure white covered everything that was open to the evening sky.

"I can't change. Not now. Not with how far I've come."

...

"You know, Hidan-san. I saw a caterpillar a couple of months ago." Sakura said suddenly, a smile on her face. Hidan raised an eyebrow at the change of topic.

"Oh? Did you?"

"Mm! It was black and white and yellow and striped all over!" she exclaimed, "It stayed in one of the bushes and I went out to go see it every day before I had ta' go back inside and eat lunch. All the caterpillar did was eat and eat until it got all big and puffy. It was so cute!"

Hidan grimaced. He hated bugs.

"But one day, I didn't see the caterpillar. I looked all around the bush, but I couldn't find it. All I saw was the green and yellow shell thingy hanging from one of the twigs. It was really weird and I still went to go see it everyday, since I couldn't find the caterpillar. After a little while, something amazing happened! The shell thingy broke and a butterfly with orange wings came out! I told that to Zetsu-san and he told me that the caterpillar was the one that turned into the shell-thingy that turned into the butterfly!"

It was hard not to smile at her enthusiasm.

"So do you get it now, Hidan-san?" she asked. He stared at her blankly, making her sigh dramatically.

"Kakuzu-san was right. You _are_ dumb."

"Wha-tch-f-what the hell are you doing listening to that bastard?!" he sputtered incredulously. Sakura giggled and coughed a few times before getting into a comfortable sleeping position.

"I'm just kidding, Hidan-san. I don't think you're dumb, even when Kakuzu-san keeps on saying it."

Damn Kakuzu for trying to fill her head with _goddamn lies_.

"But I still want you to think about it m'kay?" she murmured, sleep quickly creeping into her system, "Just think you're the squishy caterpillar and tell me when you've found a way to grow your wings."

She slept soundly right after, her light breathing the only sound in the room. Hidan looked at her for a bit before turning his gaze to the scythe that was sitting at the other corner of the room. He sighed.

"Goddammit..."

* * *

"How are you feeling today, sweetheart?"

"I'm okay, Mama. I wanna hear about your day! Did'ya do anything cool?"

Konan loved this aspect about her daughter. No matter the situation, she would always try to be as cheerful as she could, for her and everyone around her. It was a wonder how Sakura became how she was being surrounded by people like them. But she was content that Sakura was who she was. The ray of sunshine in the Akatsuki's darkness.

"Nagato was right..." she murmured.

"Huh? What about Papa?" Sakura asked. Konan shook her head.

"Nothing, darling. As for my day... no, I didn't do much. I scouted for missions for everyone else to take."

"That's still cool, Mama! You got to go outside! I miss goin' outside sometimes like I did before. But I guess that's okay. I don't think I'm gonna stay here much longer." Sakura said. Konan pressed her lips into a thin line and cast her eyes downward. How could such a little girl say that with that breathtaking smile on her face? Didn't it hurt to know your death could come in a week, a few days, or maybe even_ tomorrow_? Sakura saw this and grabbed Konan's hand.

"I'm not afraid to die anymore, Mama. It's gonna be okay."

When she stared into her daughter's eyes, those beautiful emerald eyes, she could see how happy they were. There was no trace of regret or sadness, just her pure, innocent, untroubled joy.

"How do you know it'll be okay, angel?" she questioned softly, "How do you know that everything will turn out alright?"

"Those are easy questions, Mama! Even though I'm gonna be gone, that doesn't mean nobody's gonna be happy. I'm gonna make sure everyone gets ta' be happy or else I'm not gonna go. Right, Mama? Isn't that a good idea?"

Konan smiled.

"Of course it is, honey. And what will you do to make sure everyone gets to be happy?"

Sakura grinned and put a finger to her lips.

"It's a secret~!"

* * *

"Sasori-san, could you tell me a story?"

Sasori snapped out of his inner musings and turned his attention towards the little girl.

"What kind of story would you like to hear?" he inquired softly. Sakura was silent for a few moments, pondering while sipping at her orange juice.

"Hmm... whatever you wanna talk about." she decided, "I'll listen to any story Sasori-san will tell me."

She was as cheerful as she could be despite the fact that she was now bedridden. The curtains in her room were drawn back to show the gently rising sun along the horizon.

"Is that so?... Then I'll tell you about someone I've mentioned before. Kaede." he said.

"Kaede-san...? Oh, the lady you talked about when were watching the sunrise with Deidara-san!"

"Yes. That one. Kaede. Now where do I begin... When I first met her, I was already a missing-nin. I stopped for some tea in a small, inconspicuous town in Fire Country when I was sure the hunter-nins had stopped following me. My waitress was a clumsy girl, much like yourself- but she was always tripping on air and apologizing profusely. You would think that I would've snapped at her, being the impatient man that I am. But I wasn't. To put it simply, I enjoyed watching her face fluster."

While he was telling his story, he began to absentmindedly stroke Sakura's hair. She was enjoying this rare form of his affection and was listening attentively as she watched him be taken in by his memories.

"I soon found myself frequenting the cafe she worked at. It was the ideal place for me to spend my time. I never really understood why I had done so at the time. I had already finished creating my puppet form and had already decided on the eternity _I_ desired. But I put off those plans for her. Kaede. The enchanting, clumsy waitress. Eventually, I came to terms with my attraction towards her. Some times led to others, then I took her out. Adored her. Made her mine. A year later, I asked her to marry me. She said yes."

Sakura noted that the air became heavy and Sasori's hand had gone still.

"Two weeks before the wedding, she got her dress... A beautiful white gown with cherry blossoms decorating the bottom. She'd stare at it every night with that stupidly happy smile when she thought I was asleep. To think she believed I would never find out... Tch. Honestly."

Bitterness seeped through his voice, coating his underlying anger.

"One day when I finished completing a job, I came upon a metal worker and had the rings made. On the inside of hers, I had carved in the date of the day we met. She would be happy with them, I was sure of it. But when I thought about it, I was dumbfounded. I was so ready to settle down with her that I had completely changed the eternity I strove for. I didn't want to live forever if that forever wasn't with her. I was going to change my life for her. I was completely willing to give up the shinobi life for the family she always dreamed of. When I arrived back in town, it was a day before our wedding. _But she had gotten sick._"

His last sentence was spoken in barely above a whisper. Sasori's voice was so soft and so gentle that you could almost hear his heart break in his words.

"I stayed at her bedside for days. Those days soon turned into a week. Then two weeks. Then three. By then, I was so angry at myself that there was nothing I could do to save her. I was there when she passed. Before she did, she had the brightest smile on her face like she was telling me that everything was okay. I hated that smile... I hated it _so much_..."

Sakura's face was neutral as she watched Sasori's teeth clench and his eyes grow glassy. Internally, she was amazed.

"But I got over it." he informed quickly, turning his head away from the little girl's gaze, "I transferred my being into this puppet and was granted the eternity I wanted from the very beginning."

"Sasori-san."

He turned back to look at her, and oddly enough, the sweetest smile was on her face.

"Don't worry, Sasori-san. I'll tell Kaede-san that you still love her. I promise." she said. He went completely quiet and continued to stroke Sakura's hair until she fell asleep. When he was sure she had knocked out, he stood up and walked out the door.

Only to see Deidara with a glass of water in one hand and medication in the other.

"Oh, hey Danna, hm." the younger man greeted, "It's time for Sakura to take her pills. She sleeping, un?"

"She fell asleep not too long ago. It's best if you give her some time before waking her up again. She's tired."

Deidara nodded and stepped outside, letting Sasori pass by. He looked a little nervous, something his senior curiously took note of as he shrugged on his cloak.

"If you have something to say, say it, brat."

"Um... I heard the story about Kaede-san, un. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but-"

"It's fine." Sasori interrupted, waving his hand around like it was no big deal, "It's not like anything about her was a secret. Anyways, tell Leader-sama that I'll be gone for a few days."

Deidara cocked his head to the side.

"Eh? Where are you going, hm?" he asked. Sasori opened the door, murky morning light pouring into the house. A rainbow was in the far distance as result of last night's rain.

"... A body. I'm just going out to look for a body."

* * *

There were seventeen different flowers spread across Sakura's covers. Each were beautiful in their own right and had their own special meanings. When Zetsu had first stepped foot into the room, Sakura asked him a question. A short simple one.

_Could you tell me about what the flowers mean?_

He complied with the simple nod of his head and went out to the greenhouse to get a single flower of each species he grew. When he came back, he laid out each flower on her bed for her to see and marvel at. First, he held up a stalk holding a cluster of dark pink blossoms.

"This is a snapdragon. These are graceful flowers, no? They certainly live up to their meaning, but be careful, _they could also mean deception. Kinda like our ex-girlfriend._ She doesn't need to hear this. _Who brought it up? Hm?_"

"Eh? Zetsu-san... Zetsu-san actually dates his plants? Uwa- so what Kisame-san said was true?!" Sakura gasped.

"_She was an actual human being, excuse you!_ I may be _fucking insane_ and tend to the plants in the greenhouse all the time, but that doesn't mean I'm a_ chlorophile_. _Anyway, are you going to keep laughing at me _or do you want to know more about these flowers?" he demanded, even when there was no real anger or offense behind it. Sakura giggled a bit longer before smiling brightly at him.

"I wanna know more!" she chirped. Zetsu went on through the meanings of every single flower, from statices to alstroemerias with Sakura being attentive every second of the way. About half-way through his explanations, she grew silent and stared at the ceiling in deep thought. Zetsu looked at her.

"Something you want to share?" he asked.

"I... Zetsu-san, do you have a lot of pink carnations? And white sweet peas?"

"Plenty." he answered after thinking about it for a bit, "_Do you need them for something_?"

She nodded vigorously, determination shining brightly in her eyes. Zetsu gave her an odd look but went to get her the flowers anyways. He walked out into the dusk and stared up at the still cloudy skies overhead. It had been like this a good week now, and had no intention of letting up.

He came back with a bundle of each and watched as she made quick work of them. Once Zetsu realized what she was doing, he couldn't help but smile. For two hours, she worked on the flowers until she was at the point where she was desperately trying to fight off all sleep. But she had finished what she had started.

"Before I go to sleep, I want to leave these in everyone's rooms." Sakura murmured. Zetsu nodded and carried her bridal style all through the Akatsuki House and let her put down each of her flower creations on the member's beds. When they returned to her room, Zetsu tucked her into bed.

"What do you want to do tomorrow?" he questioned, "_We can pull the bleach blonde shampoo prank on the Uchiha._"

Sakura giggled tiredly.

"Sounds fun, but tomorrow... Tomorrow I want to see the sun first, if it comes out... 'kay?" she mumbled.

At around six am, the Akatsuki started filing in from their missions. Zetsu told them about what she wanted to see today, so they all decided to go and watch the sunrise with her and make her smile. After they opened the door and greeted her, they grew deathly silent.

Because just like the clouds of the days before,

She was gone.

* * *

On that same day was her funeral, and it certainly was a sight that no one would believe. Every single member of the Akatsuki: Nagato, Pein, Konan, Deidara, Tobi, Kakuzu, Kisame, Itachi, Hidan, Sasori, and Zetsu were wearing flower crowns.

Flower crowns made of pink carnations and white sweet peas.

When they entered their respective rooms, they all had found such flower crowns sitting on their beds. It was painfully obvious to them who had made every single one of them, and they all wouldn't admit how much it hurt them that during her last moments, she would still do this for them. If the making the crowns didn't bring tears to their hearts, the meanings of the flowers did.

Pink carnations and white sweet peas.

_I'll never forget you. Thank you..._

_And goodbye._


	24. After (Epilogue)

Pein was at his desk, reading through forbidden scrolls and mapping out future plans for his organization.

Well, that was what he was supposed to be doing.

For the past two hours, he had been staring down blankly and twirling a pen in his hands. He looked up at the clock on the wall. 5:36 am. Pein sighed and leaned back in his chair rubbing his face with his hands. It was far too early to try to do any work, but he had to. It had been an entire month since he had buried his own daughter. All those days of mourning should have been enough.

He pulsed chakra to his ring, summoning one of his members to his office. Hidan walked in a few minutes later quietly, despite not being a morning person.

"Whattya' need me for? It's too early." he groaned. Pein raised an eyebrow before tossing his subordinate a small scroll.

"You're going on a solo mission to Kumogakure. It's simple surveillance on a few shinobi, but the country is riddled with war. You'll complete this mission within two weeks. All further details are within that scroll. Any questions?"

Normally at this point, Hidan would whine about getting such a boring mission, but he sighed and pocketed the paper roll.

"No, Leader-sama. I'll have your mission done, no problem."

He bowed and left the room. Pein was left alone with his surprise at the level of respect Hidan had just displayed.

Not once had Hidan ceased his complaints.

Not once had Hidan called him "Leader-sama".

Not once had Hidan bowed to him.

And yet...

Pein trained his gaze back to the papers strewn about his desk. Perhaps his initial plan for his organization had worked far better than he had ever expected. If his beloved daughter had been able to make Hidan give even_ that_ up, he could never guess what the other members of the Akatsuki had done with themselves.

"You're happy with your success, I take it."

Konan emerged from the shadows and perused through the bookshelf behind Pein's desk. He let out a silent sigh.

"It is a rather pyrrhic victory. The outcome is what I had desired, but the toll came by much worse than I had anticipated."

She pulled out a book, one filled with old fairy tales, and gazed nostalgically at the cover. Sakura loved this book. As she flipped through it, she saw a single pressed forget-me-not between every single page. At that moment, she couldn't stop herself.

She cried.

* * *

As Hidan walked down the hallways, he spotted Sasori in the kitchen, staring down at a plate of food.

"What are you doing?" Hidan asked, taking a seat across Sasori at the dining table, "You don't eat, puppet boy."

But Sasori did not answer, but merely looked up irritably. And Hidan understood.

"You're... _human_."

"Yes. What of it?"

Hidan was completely dumbfounded.

"You wanted eternity, Sasori. What made you change your mind?" he asked curiously. Sasori scoffed and crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair as he did so.

"What made you clean up that foul mouth of yours?"

"Touche'." Hidan chuckled, surprising Sasori into stillness. Hidan. This sailor-mouthed man who used to grow angry at any comeback or insult that was thrown his way had just laughed like it was nothing. He was just about to remark on such a phenomenon until his eyes landed on the weapon slung across Hidan's back. It wasn't a scythe, but a katana.

"I see you've also invested in another weapon."

"Oh, this? Yeah, I decided that it was time for a change."

Hidan took off his sword and held it out for the redhead to see. Sasori grasped the hilt and slid it out of its scabbard. Once he recognized the blade, his eyes widened, another bout of surprise surging through his veins.

"Hidan, this is a sakabato."

He nodded.

"_A reverse blade sword_." Sasori stressed, "A sword forged so that the edge that cuts is on the wrong side. No matter how you look at it, you can't kill a person with this sword!"

Hidan smiled lightly and nodded.

"I know."

For a few seconds, their eyes locked. Sasori's incredulous and unbelieving and Hidan's calm and knowing. Eventually, Sasori turned his head and let out his own chuckle as his re-sheathed the blade.

"I can't believe that someone like you could change this easily."

The younger man accepted the sword and adjusted it on his person. He stood and yawned as he made his way out the kitchen. Before he left, he looked over his shoulder, appearing far older than was.

"It's not that, you know. It doesn't take much to change a person like me."

He left, whistling softly to himself. And with that Sasori returned to staring down at his plate of rice and fish. He picked up his chopsticks and broke them apart.

"It doesn't take much to change a person like me..." he repeated. He smirked, "I suppose he and I aren't very different after all."

* * *

Later on in the day, Sasori walked to Deidara's room to ask for the carving tools the blonde had asked to borrow about two weeks ago. He knocked twice on the door and entered once he heard a muffled 'come in'. He pushed open the door and received what was the third shock of the day. Deidara was sitting on a low stool, molding a slab of clay into what seemed a woman in a wedding dress. Holding the bride's hand was a child- a spitting image of Sakura. A cigarette hung from the corner of his mouth, but that wasn't the first thing that caught his eye.

"Ah, Sasori no Danna. You here for your tools, un?"

Deidara's hair was short as his, if not shorter.

"... Yeah. Are you done using them?"

"Almost, hm. I just need to finish carving the cherry blossoms on the bottom of the bride's dress. Can you hold up for a few minutes?" he asked as he stared intently at his clay. Sasori stared at the clay masterpiece for a long while before shrugging and walking out.

"Take as long as you want, brat. I can wait."

Deidara paused for a split second before a stupidly wide grin crossed his face. It seems like he wasn't the only one to go through some awfully weird change. He stood up to stretch his legs and walked to his desk to grab an old rag to wipe his hands. Above his desk on the wall was a rather old sheet of paper.

He took the paper reluctantly and gazed at the picture. There was a stick figure with scribbles of yellow on the figure's head, uneven blue circles inside the circle which he assumed were eyes, and a line curved into what resembled a smile. Odd orange shapes sprouted from its back.

_"It's you, silly! You have pretty butterfly wings so you can be free too!"_

He sighed and gazed out the window. Free, eh? He pinned back the photo and picked up the golden name plate for his sculpture.

**Sakura and Kaede**

At about noon, Deidara left his room to make himself a sandwich in the kitchen. Kisame and Itachi were in the living area, watching some random show on TV. Kisame was drinking some orange juice, his usual twelve o'clock sake' nowhere in sight.

"What's up, Kisame no Danna, un? Alcohol no good anymore?"

"Nah, I'm not really up for it. It's not as sweet as it was before. Besides, if I keep drinking it, my liver's gonna fail me in the middle of the fight. Itachi-san's already scolded me on that, haven't you, Itachi-san?"

The corner of Itachi's lips quirked upwards.

"If that is what you believe, Kisame."

Deidara rolled his eyes and took a water bottle out of the fridge.

"Could you two lovebirds take your flirting somewhere else, un? Honestly." he sighed. Kisame twisted in his seat to make a snide comeback, but stopped when he noticed the lack of blonde on Deidara's head.

"Oho— someone finally looks like guy!"

"Shove it, hm." Deidara retorted through a bag of chips. He turned his attention to Itachi, "So Uchiha, spar in fifteen?"

"Aa, Deidara-kun." Itachi smiled.

* * *

Kisame was on his way to Pein's office for a solo mission when he bumped into Kakuzu.

"Ah, sorry." Kakuzu said before continuing on his way. Kisame looked at the other man's retreating form with raised eyebrows and held in an amused laugh as he continued on his way. Tobi passed him down the hallway and inclined his head in greeting.

He himself was on his way to the greenhouse to inspect some of the new herbs Zetsu had grown. He had to say that he was more than surprised to see what had become of the members of Akatsuki. For the past month, he had seen each and everyone slowly change. So slowly that some of them still haven't noticed it themselves.

Perhaps this was the effect of the short life of Haruno Sakura.

Tobi knew that she was an enigma to this entire organization. Each and every one of them puzzled over her pure innocence and her willingness to open up her heart to people like them. They, of course, had tried their hardest to refuse the love she gave them day by day without fail. But they were completely taken by her four year old charm. Himself included.

Once, back when she first arrived, he thought it was a completely foolish idea for her to be here in the first place. The Akatsuki was no place for a child such as herself and he was positive that she wouldn't last. He was half correct, in a twisted sort of way.

Just like her namesake.

Tobi stepped into the greenhouse to find it completely filled to the brim with white lilies and sunflowers, the entire scene lit up with soft yellow lights. The sight was stunning and absolutely beautiful.

"**_For her. _**Because of how much she loved them." came the explanation from the corner of the greenhouse. "**_You came for the herbs, correct?_** They're growing over here."

Tobi didn't hear him as he continued looking at the plethora of flowers. Zetsu peeked from around one of the giant bouquets.

"Tobi-san?"

"Flowers have meanings, correct?" Tobi asked quietly, "What do these ones mean specifically?"

"Innocence after death, and warmth and adoration. _**Fitting, isn't it? Beauty even when the muse is no longer there.**"_

Tobi looked upwards at the darkened sky, specifically at the blotches of infinite stars. No, the muse was still here. She was far off, though, watching them from a distance with a smile on her face and her love in their hearts no matter how many years would pass. For them, they could only hope that one day they could see her again. Maybe it would be in the next life, or maybe much longer than that, but they could wait. Little Sakura Haruno was worth waiting for.

Yes, just like her namesake, a blossom never lasts for long.

But in time, it always blooms again.

**_~End~_**


End file.
